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Pyojeok (The Target)
No Score Yet 21%
Lee Jin-wook, Ryu Seung-ryong
Unrated, 1 hr. 39 min.
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
Vendetta
No Score Yet 35%
Dean Cain, Paul Wight
R, 1 hr. 30 min.
Synopsis: Dean Cain and WWE Superstar The Big Show star in "Vendetta," an action-packed thriller about a detective pushed beyond his limits who will stop at not ... ing for vengeance. When his wife is killed by a criminal that he put away, Mason (Cain), a hard-nosed detective, deliberately gets arrested in order to get revenge. While inside, Mason discovers a new criminal enterprise that those behind it would kill to protect. (C) LIonsgate More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Phynx
No Score Yet 40%
Ray Chippeway, Dennis Larden
PG, 1 hr. 32 min.
Synopsis: Designed as a satirical farce, the story centers on a computer-generated rock group who are ostensibly assigned to play a concert on the East side of ... he Iron Curtain. Their real mission is to find and return American popular icons who have been kidnapped by the communists. Among the missing are former Bowery Boys' Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall, band leaders Xaviar Cugat and Guy Lombardo, ex-champ Joe Louis, Maureen O'Sullivan, Ed Sullivan, Dick Clark, Ruby Keeler, Johnny "Tarzan" Weissmuller, fried-chicken magnate Colonel Sanders, crooner Rudee Vallee, Jay "Tonto" Silverheels, Dorothy Lamour, and even flamboyant rocker James Brown. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
The Runner
29% 26%
Nicolas Cage, Connie Nielsen
R, 1 hr. 34 min.
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the BP oil spill, an idealistic but imperfect New Orleans politician finds his plans of restoration unraveling as his own life bec ... mes contaminated with corruption, scandal and deceit. More...
Army of Frankensteins
No Score Yet 58%
Jordan Farris, Christian Bellgardt
Unrated, 1 hr. 48 min.
Synopsis: An unstoppable terror is set loose upon a nation divided... and history will never be the same! After a failed attempt to propose to his girlfriend, A ... an Jones (Jordan Farris) is beaten within an inch of his life by a street gang. Transported to the mysterious lab of Dr. Tanner Finski and his kid genius assistant Igor, Alan becomes the subject in a series of horrible experiments as part of the doctor's plan to reanimate the legendary Frankenstein monster. But all bets are off when these experiments lead to a hole being ripped in space and time, pulling an army's worth of the infamous creatures from hundreds of parallel universes and sending them all back to the 19th century - directly into the heart of a bloody battle between the North and South! An over-the-top sci-fi/horror hybrid, Army Of Frankensteins is an outrageous film that dares to examine a history that never happened: The War Between The States... of Life and Death! More...

Ombis: Alien Invasion

50%

Jason John Beebe, Richard Satterwhite,

Synopsis: Peaceful, rustic Metzburgh is a quiet village which was a former industrial town whose glory days are long past after the collapse of Metzburgh Grain. Teenager Mark Lowe (Jason John Beebe) and his ex-girlfriend Lucy Greenheart (Sarah Manzella) are stuck in a lovers quarrel when a meteorite crash lands in the passive community. Glen (Robert Bozek ), an ex-employee of the grain silos who became homeless after the collapse of the mills, stumbles upon the fiery crash. Unaware that his find could be dangerous, he gets too close and a chemical poison sprays out of the meteorite, enveloping him. The chemical agent known as Ombis begins to turn his insides into a slimly substance. Unable to stop the spread of the infection, Glen runs onto the road where Mark and Lucy find him. The two take him to the only Doctor in town, Doctor D (Deborah Manzella) . Mark and Lucy are shocked by their gruesome discovery and immediately contact the local Sheriff Thomas Brackett (Richard Satterwhite) who is on a date with a lovely waitress Daisy (Kathy Murphy). With their date being interrupted, they aid the traumatized love birds. With no sign of the creature or its victims, Brackett dismisses Mark's fantastic story. Quickly returning to where the meteorite crash landed, Mark finds a new horrific discovery that the meteorite wasn't the only creature to crash land on Earth. With the towns folk overrun by the virus and the collateral damage adding up, a special containment team shows up to try and keep order and contain the plague. The human struggle of the residents of Metzburgh and their fight for survival then begins as the village is overrun with the alien invasion and the mutated humans that it creates. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 24 min.

Kill Kapone

100%

Ronnie Alvarez, Richard Cabral,

Synopsis: Kill Kapone is a realistic, hyper-violent action/drama that follows gang member, Kapone through the gritty alleys of East L.A. while getting chased all day by his own vicious gang. The story unfolds when Kapone's parole agents, Webster and Ardmore wake him up early in the day to take him in for violating his parole. Unfortunately for Kapone, while escaping through one of the alleys, he comes across a vindictive dope fiend who is hard up for his next fix. Kapone denies him of his fix which infuriates the dope fiend. To get back at Kapone, Georgie labels Kapone a snitch to his own hood. As it turns out, Georgie is the one who witnesses a gruesome murder committed by gang member Marcos. Marcos, the younger brother of gang leader Crow, is the culprit of killing an innocent woman in the alley so Ardmore and Webster pressure Georgie to come up with the name of the murderer or face a jail term himself. In order to save his own ass, Georgie snitches on Marcos who then gets arrested for the homicide. When Crow gets wind that Georgie may have been the one who snitched on his brother, Georgie shifts the blame to Kapone. This sets off a long and brutal day for Kapone who will find himself running for his life while constantly getting shot at from his own people. Shot caller Crow is furious at Kapone for having him "drop a dime" on his little brother so he puts a "green light" on Kapone with a group of young baby-faced killers. Hood prospects Sick, Fresco and Blind are given the mission to whack Kapone no matter what it takes. The trio wants to move up the gang's ladder so they are intent on blowing away Kapone before the day's end. This makes it a "no-where-to hide" situation for Kapone. As a result of the 12 action packed hours, almost a dozen people are killed in the worst day for gang-related homicides in the history of East L.A. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 25 min.

More Dead Than Alive

44%

Clint Walker, Vincent Price,

Synopsis: Cain (Clint Walker), better known throughout the West as "Killer Cain," is released from prison in 1891, after serving 18 years for killing a man, one of over a dozen lives that he'd taken from the age of 16. But he finds that his penalty is hardly paid and his punishment hardly over, even though he's truly reformed and wants no trouble. He's unable to get away from his past, even though the Old West is fading fast in the face of civilization -- in fact, the fading of the West is making matters worse, as ordinary folks are mostly scared of and curious about him. Additionally, he still has enemies all around, who will give him no peace; and to top it off, the only man willing to give him any kind of a job is Dan Ruffalo (Vincent Price), operator of a Wild West show, as a sharpshooter. It turns out that Cain isn't even that perfect a shot anymore, but Cain still becomes the show's biggest attraction, because people will pay to see -- or say they saw -- a killer, and that upsets young Billy (Paul Hampton), Ruffalo's other sharpshooter, who never misses but has also never killed a man either. Billy is a lot more frightening to Cain than Cain could ever be to Billy, because Billy turns out to be a psychopath. Adding to his troubles is the presence of Luke Santee (Mike Henry), a killer with his own score to settle with Cain, as well as Karma (Craig Littler), a mysterious lawyer who's been looking for him. Cain and Billy seem headed for a collision sooner or later, even as Cain tries to find peace in the company of Monica Alton (Anne Francis), an artist from the East who loves him, and who has come out West to make a new life for herself. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi more

R, 1 hr. 41 min.

Billion Dollar Brain

60% 44%

Michael Caine, Karl Malden,

Synopsis: Harry Palmer (Michael Caine), the reluctant secret agent from The Ipcress File (1965) and Funeral in Berlin (1966) -- both (like the source for this movie) based on novels by Len Deighton -- is back again in Ken Russell's Billion Dollar Brain. Having left Britain's espionage service, Palmer is scraping out a living as a private investigator, but he's still willing to give his old boss Colonel Ross (Guy Doleman) the bum's rush out of his office when he comes calling, offering a raise and promotion if he'll return. But Palmer ends up working for Her Majesty's government anyway -- a letter arrives, with a key and money, and telephoned instructions by a mechanical voice connect him up with a carefully sealed parcel (filled with what an x-ray reveals as eggs) that he must transport to Helsinki. No sooner does he get there than he discovers that an old friend, Leo Newbigin (Karl Malden), and his young lover Anya (Françoise Dorléac) are behind the trip, and that the man who was supposed to receive the parcel is dead. The eggs contain dangerous viruses stolen from a secret British laboratory, and England wants them back and wants to know why they were stolen. That assignment immerses Palmer in a deadly game of deception, double-dealing, and triple-crosses on all sides, as he finds that Leo is working for a privately operated intelligence network, set up by a rabidly right-wing Texas oil man, General Midwinter (Ed Begley Sr.). The billion-dollar super-computer of the title, built by Midwinter, runs a network of spies and assassins aimed at the destruction of the Soviet Union. That interests Palmer's old friend, Soviet security chief Colonel Stok (Oskar Homolka, in an almost movie-stealing performance), very much, and he, too, wants to know what Palmer knows. And then there's Leo, who has taken millions from Midwinter, supposedly to establish a secret underground in Latvia, waiting for the signal to rise up against the Soviets occupying their country that will spread across the Baltics and beyond and bring down the Soviet government. He's taken the money, but all Harry find when he goes into Latvia is motley bunch of broken-down black marketeers whose orders are to kill him and make it look like the work of the Soviets. And there's Anya, who is sleeping with Leo, trying to seduce Harry, and seems to have an agenda all her own, but in whose interest? If it's all a little confusing, so was the book on which it was based, but there's enough striking visual material, courtesy of cinematographer Billy Williams, and engrossing performances (and a wry sensibility), courtesy of director Ken Russell and screenwriter John McGrath, that the leaps in plot, logic, and setting don't matter that much, and it is great fun. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi more

Unrated, 1 hr. 51 min.

Warrior King 2 (The Protector 2)

20% 31%

Tony Jaa, Marrese Crump,

Synopsis: Boss Suchart is the influential owner of a major elephant camp. When he was murdered in his own home - the killer delivered three fatal blows on his body - all evidence points to KHAM (Tony Jaa), who was present at the crime scene and was seen with the victim the moment before he died. Kham is forced to run as the police launch a pursuit. Meanwhile, the twin nieces of Boss Suchart (Jija Yanin Wismitanan and Teerada Kittisiriprasert) are out for revenge. But luck is on Kham's side when he runs into Sergeant MARK (Mum Jokmok), an Interpol agent sent to Thailand on a secret mission. As Kham is hunted by several parties, he's also desperately searching for KHON, his elephant, whose disappearance is involved with Boss Suchart's death. In another twist, Kham is drawn into an underground fighting ring run by LC (RZA), a crime lord who's obsessed with collecting top-class martial artists from around the world. LC's fighters are branded only by numbers, such as the lethal, beautiful TWENTY (Ratha Pho-ngam) and the diabolical NO.2 (Marrese Crump). These fighters are ordered to defeat and capture Kham for a special mission that LC has in mind. A sequel of the global smash-hit The Protector (Tom Yam Goong), THE PROTECTOR 2 is an extreme fight movie, an endlessly intense, nerve-racking film full of fists, elbows, kicks and daredevil stunt scenes and amazingly choreographed fighting moves that will pump hot blood through the body of all action fans.(C) Magnolia more

R, 1 hr. 44 min.

Duel at Diablo

60%

James Garner, Sidney Poitier,

Synopsis: Frontier scout Jess Remsberg (James Garner) is crossing the desert when he spots a dead army scout and group of Apaches pursuing someone -- it turns out to be a white woman, Ellen Grange (Bibi Andersson); he gets her away from them and returns her to her home and her husband Willard (Dennis Weaver), who seems much more upset that the horse she was riding when she left is dead than he is glad that she is back. Ellen was kidnapped by the Apaches two years before and rescued a year after that, and had fled a town where her husband and everyone else had treated her as an outcast since her return. Apart from preventing her from being raped by some drunken townsmen, however, Remsberg barely has time to worry over what goes on between them, as he has a mission of his own -- tracking down the men who murdered his wife, a Comanche woman. A key clue is in the hands of the town marshal in Fort Conchos and to get there he has to scout for a cavalry unit bringing horses, ammunition, and fresh recruits to the fort, with Grange and his wife -- and the infant son she had by the Indian chieftain who took her as his squaw -- going along, with ex-buffalo soldier-turned-horse wrangler Toler (Sidney Poitier). Their party ends up under siege by Chata (John Hoyt), the Apache Indian chief and grandfather to Ellen Grange's baby, who has jumped the reservation; he wants his grandson back, and the ammunition the troop was carrying, and also intends on killing Ellen for inadvertently causing the death of his son. They all end up trapped in a box canyon while Remsberg tries to survive to get help from Fort Conchos. If this all sounds complicated, it's not, especially as told by director Nelson, in a straightforward, unpretentious, brisk, and decidedly violent fashion that anticipates his own Soldier Blue, made four years later. Every plot element links up neatly in this script, which quite effectively recalls (and weaves together) elements of the book and the movie Hondo as well as any number of revenge westerns of the 1960's. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi more

Unrated, 1 hr. 43 min.

Sherlock Jr.

94% 95%

Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire,

Synopsis: Sherlock, Jr. is one of Buster Keaton's funniest and most technically innovative features. He plays the floor sweeper and projectionist of a small-town movie theater who in his free time studies to be a detective. His troubles begin when he slyly buys his girlfriend a box of chocolates. Not wanting her to think him a cheapskate for only spending a buck on the gift, he carefully changes the price tag to read four dollars. Another fellow, also vying for the gal's affections goes one better and swipes the girl's father's watch and pawns it so he can buy her a really expensive gift. To cover his tracks, he takes the hock ticket and sticks it into the innocent Keaton's pocket and then makes darn sure the ticket is discovered. Naturally, the girl's family gives Keaton the boot. Now to restore his good name, he must use his newly acquired skills as a gumshoe. Sleuthing proves to be hard work, and after an entire day spent following his rival around town, the exhausted Keaton returns to his job at the theater and falls asleep during the showing of a sophisticated mystery. He then dreams that he and all the others involved in the "case" are involved in the movie, which deals with elegantly dressed people and the search for a purloined necklace. In his dream, he decides that the only way to solve his puzzling mystery is to enter the film and so he goes down to the screen and tries to jump into the movie. But something strange happens and he ends up appearing in various scenes from other films. Technically, Keaton accomplished this using some fast-paced and brilliant editing, so it appears that one moment he is alone in a desert and the next he is nearly mowed down by a speeding train that comes out of nowhere. The brush with the train lands him atop a cactus that suddenly transforms into an island. He attempts to dive into the water, but ends up in a huge snowbank, and from there he finally makes it into the movie where he finds his normal clothes magically changed into a tuxedo. In this way, Keaton becomes a character of the actual film as world-renowned detective Sherlock, Jr. A series of crazy chases ensue until a car crash awakens the sleeping projectionist. Groggily opening his eyes, Keaton is surprised when his girlfriend arrives, and she begs him to forgive her for doubting him. From there the bewildered fellow, happy to have her back but confused about what to do, glances at the still-playing movie and takes his cues from there. While filming a scene that takes place in a train yard, Keaton's neck was fractured in real life when he was slammed to the railroad track by the gushing water from the water tower to which he was clinging. Keaton left the scene intact for the film. more

Unrated, 45 min.

The Dark Command

67%

Walter Pidgeon, John Wayne,

Synopsis: Set in the years leading up to the Civil War and its outbreak, Dark Command tells a fictionalized version of the story of William Clarke Quantrill, the schoolteacher-turned-renegade, whose raids -- ostensibly on behalf of the Confederacy -- turned Kansas into a charnel house. John Wayne plays Bob Setton, a young Texan who arrives in Lawrence, KS, in 1859 on his way west, partnered with George "Gabby" Hayes. He meets Marie McCloud (Claire Trevor) and her younger brother, Fletch (Roy Rogers), and takes a liking to them, especially Marie. His only competition for her is William Cantrell (Walter Pidgeon), the local schoolteacher, who has big ambitions in life. He is nominated for town marshal and seems a shoo-in, especially as his only rival is Bob Setton, who admits he knows nothing about the law and can't even read, but Setton wins with his honest, unpretentious speech. At the time, Kansas is riven by strife, as settlers from the North opposed to slavery and those from the South supporting it pour into the territory, and Setton has his hands full. His most difficult personal moment comes when he must arrest Fletch for shooting an anti-slavery farmer (Trevor Bardette) to death. Cantrell leads a campaign of terror against the jury, however, which finds the young man not guilty just as the Civil War breaks out. In the months that follow, Setton and his posse go after the raiders who are stealing and destroying huge amounts of property in Kansas on behalf of the Confederacy. He suspects Cantrell is their leader, but can't prove it, and has to tread carefully. As the raids worsen, and the war drags on -- even Marie's pro-Confederacy banker father is murdered during a run on his bank -- their conflict comes to a violent end as Cantrell launches an attack on Lawrence, vowing to destroy the town, with only Bob Setton and Cantrell's own mother (Marjorie Main) standing in his way. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi more

R, 1 hr. 35 min.

In Old California

45%

John Wayne, Binnie Barnes,

Synopsis: With its slight resemblance to Destry Rides Again (1939) -- probably not entirely coincidental -- this rousing Western from Republic Pictures remains a joy throughout. John Wayne plays Tom Craig, a mild-mannered druggist from Boston who opens a shop in wild and woolly Sacramento shortly before the Gold Rush. The town is "owned" by the Dawson brothers, Britt (Albert Dekker) and Joe (Dick Purcell), who poison Craig's tonic when saloon hostess Lacey Miller (Binnie Barnes) takes too much of an interest in the handsome newcomer. Town drunk Whitey (Emmett Lynn) has one drink too many, and all of Sacramento is soon in a lynching mood. The news of "gold in them thar hills" saves the druggist in the nick of time, but his business is destroyed. While everyone is heading for the gold fields, Craig prepares to leave town with snobbish debutante Ellen Sanford (Helen Parrish), whom he intends to marry. News of typhoid fever among the prospectors changes his mind, however, and the man once referred to as "a human hitchin' post instead of a two-legged man," risks his own life to save the suffering populace. The Dawson brothers, meanwhile, plan to hijack the medical supplies and sell them to the highest bidder, but when Britt Dawson learns that Lacey is helping the sick and may be stricken with the disease herself, he has a change of heart and eventually confesses to spiking Craig's medicine. Cast against type for most of the film, John Wayne fails to make his amiable druggist entirely believable but remains simply John Wayne throughout -- which is as it should be. Binnie Barnes is rowdy and fun whether leading a chorus of "California Joe" by Johnny Marvin and Fred Rose, or jealously interrupting a tête-à-tête between Wayne and 19-year-old Helen Parrish. Usually cast as glacial "other women" in Hollywood films, the British-born Barnes had actually begun her professional career touring Europe and South Africa with bucolic American headliner Tex McLeod, which was as good a preparation as any to play In Old California's saloon belle. Patsy Kelly, who shoots down her laundry with a Winchester, and Edgar Kennedy, as Wayne's tooth-ache plagued sidekick, add to the general fun. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi more

Unrated, 1 hr. 29 min.

Fire With Fire

7% 37%

Josh Duhamel, Bruce Willis,

Synopsis: A firefighter who witnessed a deadly convenience store robbery enters the Witness Protection program, but is forced out of hiding after being targeted for death by the racist crime boss who's determined to see him dead. Jeremy Coleman (Josh Duhamel) was just finishing a long day of work when he ducked into the store for a few beers. Little did he realize his life was about to be changed forever. In the blink of an eye, ruthless white supremacist Hagen (Vincent D'Onofrio) bursts into the store, and guns down the clerk in cold blood. Terrified, Jeremy makes a daring escape amidst a hail of gunfire. Later, Hagan is arrested and police detective Mike Cella (Bruce Willis) takes charge of the investigation. When Jeremy sits down to identify Hagen in the line-up, however, the sociopathic madman reveals that he knows everything about the "anonymous" witness behind the two-way mirror. As Hagan's trial approaches, Jeremy is forced to give up his job to be placed in the Witness Protection program. Meanwhile, he enters into a passionate romance with U.S. Marshal Talia Durham (Rosario Dawson). When Hagan's attorney succeeds in having his client released from prison just weeks before the trial, the killer's henchmen come gunning for Jeremy and Talia. The situation turns critical when Talia is mortally wounded, forcing Jeremy to flee for Long Beach, Ca. Once there, Jeremy realizes that his only hope for protecting Talia is to rally Hagan's enemies against him, and fight alongside them as they aim to take down the vengeful killer once and for all. more

R, 1 hr. 37 min.

Sedona

81%

Frances Fisher, Seth Peterson,

Synopsis: Two inspiring stories of self-discovery intertwine over a day in mystical Sedona. One follows successful advertising executive Tammy on her birthday as she drives from Portland to Phoenix to land the biggest client of her career. A wrong turn gets her lost and takes her into Sedona by mistake, where a local tour plane runs her off the highway right in the middle of town during an emergency crash landing. She's forced to wait in Sedona while her damaged car is repaired. Across town, uptight lawyer Scott, vacationing with his partner Eddie and their two young sons, embarks on a family day hike out in the forest among the majestic red rocks. Eddie has brought workaholic Scott to Sedona for some rest and relaxation. They wind up in an unexpected frightening adventure out on the hiking trails when their 7-year-old Denny gets lost. The ensuing frantic search for the little boy sends Scott into a profound life-changing journey that forces him to examine his priorities and determine what's truly important in life. Meanwhile, Tammy unwittingly begins a spiritual transformation of her own as she encounters an array of quirky locals, each touching her in different meaningful ways. A string of bizarre coincidences spirals her out of control, leaving her haunted by her past and forcing her to face her demons head on. Letting her guard down, she confronts the implausible possibility that she has been brought to Sedona for a greater purpose. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.

Northwest Passage

100% 69%

Spencer Tracy, Robert Young,

Synopsis: Kenneth Roberts' fact-based novel Northwest Passage would seem too raw and explicit a book to be considered for an MGM film adaptation-much less one in Technicolor. Amazingly, MGM retained many of the grim episodes from the Roberts' novel, though - thanks to the Hays Code - most are discussed rather than shown. The film is set in 1759, when the headstrong and gifted young artist Langdon Towne (Robert Young) is expelled from Harvard much to the chagrin of his parents and his fiancee, Elizabeth Browne (Ruth Hussey). Towne and his tough-as-nails sidekick, Hunk Marriner (Walter Brennan) get soused one night in a pub and - while intoxicated - viciously insult Elizabeth's father, Rev. Browne (Louis Hector). The two men are nearly arraigned for the incident, but escape just in time and ultimately wind up at the camp of famed Indian hunter Major Robert Rogers (Spencer Tracy). Rogers then invites Towne to join his troupe as a cartographer, and suggests that Marriner tag along. Together, the hundreds of Indian fighters under Rogers's aegis team up and chart their way through the wilderness, headed straight for St. Francis, the base of the French-supported Abenaki tribe, notorious for bloodily wiping out British-controlled colonies, after which they will forge the titular 'northwest passage' to the Pacific. Along the route, the boys counter such obstacles as traitorous Native American guides and exploding gunpowder. Metro Goldwyn-Mayer originally slated this production for Tracy, Wallace Beery, Robert Taylor and Franchot Tone, but only Tracy signed on; the studio reeled in Brennan and Young as last-minute additions, to support Tracy's lead. Northwest Passage marked Vidor's first Technicolor film. William V. Skall and Sidney Wagner received Oscar nominations for their outstanding cinematographic work on the film. Nineteen years after its premiere, Northwest Passage later became an NBC TV series between 1959-60, starring Keith Larsen in the Tracy role, Buddy "Jed Clampett" Ebsen in the Brennan role, and Don Burnett in the Young role. more

Unrated, 2 hr. 6 min.

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension

79%

Vincent Martella, Thomas Sangster,

Synopsis: Disney TV scored a big hit in 2007, with Phineas and Ferb, the story of two mismatched stepbrothers who share a passion for fantastic adventures and a talent for creating high tech devices. Phineas Flynn is the American chatterbox; Ferb Fletcher is British and taciturn. The television movie Across the 2nd Dimension takes their antics further afield--and spoofs the mania for 3-D. When their giant shuttlecock collides with a spy plane piloted by their pet Perry the Platypus, Phineas and Ferb crash land in the laboratory of Dr. Doofenshmirtz. With typical enthusiasm (and blithe unawareness), the boys help the evil scientist build an "Otherdimensionator" that transports them to an alternate world. As the complications multiply, Perry is forced to reveal that he's not just a pet who grinds his teeth: he's Agent P, part of a cadre dedicated to fighting Doofenshmirtz's schemes. Eventually things get sorted out with the help of the alternate versions of Phineas, Ferb, and their sister Candace. Across the 2nd Dimension is most engaging when it plays like an extended episode of the series, with plenty of humor, off-beat songs, and pop-culture references: Doofenshmirtz and his alternate counterpart perform a number about finally finding a partner as the Blues Brothers, the Lone Ranger and Tonto, and Lucy and Ethel in the candy factory. As is often the case with TV cartoons that morph into features (Hey Arnold, Doug), things occasionally get too big--the swarms of CG robots the alternate Doofenshmirtz dispatches really don't add anything to the story. But the filmmakers generally succeed in walking a fine line, remaining smart without becoming smart alecks. Across the 2nd Dimension will delight Phineas and Ferb fans of all ages. more

G, 1 hr. 17 min.

Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen

48% 54%

Donnie Yen, Qi Shu,

Synopsis: Legendary Kung Fu hero Chen Zhen is an iconic cultural mainstay in China and Hong Kong, having spawned both record-breaking feature films and a TV series. Over the years, martial arts legends such as Bruce Lee (FIST OF FURY) and Jet Li (FIST OF LEGEND) have played the popular hero. In LEGEND OF THE FIST: THE RETURN OF CHEN ZHEN, Donnie Yen continues this rich historical legacy, but with a brand new take on the urban legend. In 1920s China, the nation is divided by infighting. Japan has become the most powerful force in Asia, taking over Northern Shanghai. With the city torn in half by international conflict, the popular nightclub "Casablanca" has become a hotbed of spies, mobsters, English officials and the Japanese military- all looking to gain control of the country, with little regard for what happens to its citizens. Into this den of intrigue enters Chen Zhen (Donnie Yen), who has returned to China after fighting alongside the Allied forces in Europe, bringing some dark secrets from his past along with him. During the day, he's known as "Ku", and appears to be just another wealthy playboy. But at night, he takes to the street as a masked warrior, determined to subvert the Japanese invasion while becoming entangled with the sultry Kiki (Played by Shu Qi), who has a dangerous secret of her own. When his past catches up to him, Zhen is faced with near impossible odds- but his skills are formidable, and he's up to the challenge. Combining the best of today's martial arts and superhero action with the classic spy thrillers of the past (and a healthy dollop of film noir on top), LEGEND OF THE FIST is the rare action film that truly gives the audience something they've never seen before. --(c) Variance more

R, 1 hr. 53 min.

Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster

92% 84%

Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo,

Synopsis: International megastar Donnie Yen reprises his iconic role as the real-life kung fu grandmaster Ip Man in this martial arts spectacular. After escaping the Japanese occupation of his hometown of Fo Shan, China, Ip Man and his family have arrived in Hong Kong, which is living under the iron fist of British colonial rule. Ip wants to support his family by opening up a martial arts academy to teach his unique Wing Chun style. But a corrupt cabal of Hong Kong martial arts masters, led by Hung Chun-nam (the legendary Sammo Hung), refuses to allow Ip to teach until he proves himself - and prove himself he does, in an intense series of fights against the masters showcasing a dazzling variety of martial arts styles, culminating in a highly anticipated brawl between Ip and Hung atop a rickety table. But even after gaining the respect of the masters, Ip's troubles are far from over. Hong Kong under British rule is a world of corruption, and when a Western-style boxer named Taylor "Twister" Milos comes to town to entertain the British upper-class, and insults both Chinese martial arts and the native citizens in a horrifically violent way, Ip must step up and fight for the honor of both his kung fu and the Chinese people. Forced by honor to enter a brutal "King of the Ring" boxing match against Twister, it's East versus West in an amazing, knock-down drag-out fight to the finish, the likes of which have never been seen on-screen before. Presented in the original, un-dubbed and uncut, international version that's been breaking box-office records across Asia, Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster is a throwback to the golden age of Hong Kong martial arts cinema that will delight kung fu fans and newcomers alike. -- (C) Well Go USA and Variance more

R, 1 hr. 48 min.

Goemon

72%

Yosuke Eguchi, Eiji Okuda,

Synopsis: Japanese anime guru Kazuaki Kiriya ascended to prominence with his sprawling fantasy Casshern (2004), a tale that coupled post-apocalyptic visions with early 21st century design, and shared the success of the manga and anime from which Kiriya and his colleagues adapted it. Kiriya waited five years before emerging with this follow-up, produced by J-horror godfather Takashige Ichise (The Grudge). Described by more than one source in the press as a Japanese equivalent of Robin Hood, it unfurls in the late 16th century. The year is 1582, and the most miserly warlord in Japan, Oda Nobunaga, promptly falls prey to an assassin's blade and is succeeded by his own right-hand-man, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (voiced by Eiji Okuda). Unfortunately, all is far from well on the sociological front: a huge chasm exists between rich and poor, and evening things out is super-thief Goemon (voice of Yosuke Eguchi), who spends his day redistributing wealth to the lower economic classes. Fate takes an intriguing turn when Goemon acquires a small, ornate, handcrafted box of foreign design that he swipes from a merchant and hands to a homeless kid (voice of Arashi Fukasawa). Also after the box is the bugyo (or administrator) of Hideyoshi, who sends a vicious ninja (Kirigakure Saizo) out to take care of Goemon and retrieve the item; Goemon recovers it first, however, while saving the young homeless boy from a bellicose swordsman (voice of Tetsuji Tamayama). In no time at all, Goemon finds himself being pursued by everyone under the sun including Mitsunari, re-encounters a lost love from his past, Cha Cha (voice of Ryoko Hirosue) and realizes that the box will play an integral role in the nation's future. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi more

Unrated, 2 hr. 8 min.

Chaiya

48%

Akara Amarttayakul, Thawatchai Penpakdee,

Synopsis: Childhood friendships are put to the ultimate test when a talented emerging fighter faces off against a top underworld boxer in Art of the Devil 2 director Kongkiat Komesiri's action-packed fight flick. As young boys growing up in Chaiya, Surat Thani Province, Piak, Pao, and Samor all trained under Pao's brother Krang (Prawit Kittichanthira, a legendary muay Thai fighter who had in turn been trained by his own father Tew (Samart Payakaroon). When Samor is badly injured, Piak and Pao continue to train under Tew until Tew and Krang are recruited by a high profile Bangkok gym. Unable to resist the call of the capitol and largest city in Thailand, Piak, Pao, and Samor decide to travel to Bangkok as well, bringing a nurse named Sripai along to look after their injured friend. Though Sripai is engaged to Piak, Pao harbors a secret affection for the girl that he doesn't dare mention to his friends. At first it seemed that Piak was set to take the fighting world by storm, but after his quick temper gets him banned from the sport he is forced to enter the brutal world of illegal, bare-knuckle boxing. Later, he and Samor go to work in an underworld go-go bar where Piak enters into a sordid affair with sensual dancer Warn. Before long, Pao has worked his way up through the ranks to become a famous fighter in Bangkok, his upcoming match against feared brawler Diamond Sullivan becoming the hottest ticket in town. But Sullivan is on the underworld payroll, pitting Pao directly at odds with his old pals Piak and Samor. By now Piak's relationship with Sripan has ended, and Sripan has moved in with Pao. When Piak's boss is killed in a deadly play for power, the hot headed brawler takes over as head of the family. Meanwhile, as Diamond pummels Pao in the ring, the brutalized boxer thinks back to happier times in an attempt to summon the strength needed to win the fight. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi more

R, 1 hr. 47 min.

Kyûketsu Shôjo tai Shôjo Furanken (Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl)

58%

Yukie Kawamura, Takumi Saitoh,

Synopsis: Two teenage girls are in love with the same boy, but the results are a long, long way from Betty and Veronica in this over-the-top horror comedy based on a manga by Shungiku Uchida. Monami (Yukie Kawamura) is a pretty new girl at school who quickly develops a furious crush on Mizushima (Takumi Saito), a handsome boy with charisma as impressive as his hair. Mizushima already has a steady girl, Kieko (Eri Otoguro), much to Monami's chagrin, but that doesn't stop her from giving the boy of her dreams a box of special chocolates for Valentine's Day. What Mizushima doesn't know is just how special those candies are -- Monami is a vampire, and the chocolates are filled with blood, which sends him into a psychedelic state and turns him into a fellow creature of the night. Monami asks the newly-undead Mizushima to be her soul mate, but this doesn't sit well with Kieko, and when a fight between the two rivals leaves Kieko dead, that's not enough to stop her. Kieko's father is a scientist doing bizarre experiments in reanimation, and he resurrects his daughter using some spare body parts, turning her into a powerful warrior who goes toe to toe against the vampire who stole her man. Kyuketsu Shojo tai Shojo Furanken (aka Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl) was directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura (the special effects artist behind the cult favorite Tokyo Gore Police) in collaboration with Naoyuki Tomomatsu. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi more

G, 1 hr. 25 min.

San suk si gin (The Shinjuku Incident)

60% 67%

Jackie Chan, Naoto Takenaka,

Synopsis: A simple Chinese immigrant wages a perilous war against one of the most powerful criminal organizations on the planet in this sprawling action drama directed by Derek Yee (One Night in Mongkok) and starring Jackie Chan, Daniel Wu, and Masaya Kato. In Japan, foreign migrants are shunned by mainstream society. Taunted by the yakuza, they live in constant fear of being discovered and repatriated. Into this world ventures Steelhead (Chan), a humble tractor repairman who has traveled to Tokyo in search of his missing girlfriend, Xiu Xiu (Xu Jinglei), who vanished into thin air shortly after arriving in the city. After locating his brother Joe (Daniel Wu), Steelhead discovers that Xiu Xiu has adapted a Japanese identity and married up-and-coming yakuza chief Eguchi (Masaya Kato), with whom he forms an uneasy alliance. Over time, Steelhead earns the respect of his fellow Chinese immigrants by establishing a place for them to gather. But the dark side still beckons to Steelhead, because after helping Eguchi dispense with a powerful rival, he is granted full control of Shinjuku's most popular nightspots. Resistant to the allure of the criminal lifestyle, Steelhead discovers a new love and opens a tractor-repair business just outside the city. When Eguchi begins using Steelhead's former compatriots as pawns to front the yakuza's drug trade, the vengeful immigrant returns to the city determined to exact justice, even if it means destroying the future of the woman he once loved. more

R, 1 hr. 59 min.

Puen yai jon salad (Legend of the Tsunami Warrior) (Queens of Langkasuka)

40%

Jarunee Suksawas, Ananda Everingham,

Synopsis: Magic and fierce rivalries set the stage in this epic-scale fantasy set in 17th Century Thailand. The Black Raven (Winai Kraibutr) is a fearsome pirate who has joined forces with a rogue prince to overthrow the rule of Queen Hijau of Pattani (Jarunee Suksawas). Needing weapons, the Black Raven and his crew set out to steal a cache of powerful cannons from Janis Bree (Andre Macchieisen), a Dutch master of firearms, and Lim Kium (Jakkrit Phanichphatikram), his Chinese right-hand man. The Raven's plan, however, goes awry, and the cannons sink to the bottom of the sea as a child named Pari is born in a village not far away. As the youngster grows to manhood, it becomes evident that Pari (Ananda Everingham) has a gift for magic, and his uncle Anjar (Preecha Katkham) arranges for him to learn the art at the hands of the gifted White Ray (Sorapong Chatree). As Pari hones his powers, he learns that his father died battling the Black Raven on the day he was born, and White Ray tells him it is his duty to bring justice against the pirate once he masters his magic. As Pari makes plans to put the Black Raven in his place, the pirate is making new plans to rescue the cannons he lost years ago, and Queen Hijau, sensing that revolt is afoot once again, approaches Lim Kium and asks if he can recreate Janis Bree's fabled weapons. Puenyai chom salat (aka Queens of Langkasuka) also stars Anna Ris and Jacqueline Apithananon as the Queen's daughters. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi more

R, 2 hr. 13 min.

Crimes of the Past

25%

David Rasche, Elisabeth Röhm,

Synopsis: A spy unwittingly puts himself and his family in danger as he tries to reconnect with the child he left behind in this independent drama from director Garrett Bennett. In the early 1980s, Thomas Sparrow (David Rasche) was an operative with the CIA whose work often kept him away from his wife and young daughter. During a secret money-drop operation in Germany, things went awry and Sparrow was seriously hurt while the cash went missing. When Sparrow returned home, he learned his wife had been having an affair with another man, leading to an ugly altercation that terrified his daughter Josephine. Sparrow's wife banished him from the house, and with a new assignment, he literally disappeared from the lives of his wife and child. Twenty-five years later, Sparrow has retired from intelligence, and he travels to Seattle where Josephine (Elisabeth Rohm), now in her mid-thirties, is living. Observing his daughter from a distance, Sparrow sees that growing up without a father had taken a toll on her; she's a single mother with a drinking problem who is clearly unhappy with her life, and Sparrow tries to reintegrate himself into her life and help repair the damage he's done. But Sparrow's years with the CIA still follow him, and he's become the target of Russian mobsters who are convinced he knows where the fortune he lost years ago can be found. Also starring Eric Roberts, The Spy and the Sparrow received its world premiere at the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival. more

R, 1 hr. 31 min.

From Mexico with Love

52%

Kuno Becker, Alex Nesic,

Synopsis: Jimmy Nickerson, fight coordinator on such films as Raging Bull and Rocky, takes the directorial reins for this tale of a self-destructive amateur boxer seeking to follow in his father's footsteps by making a name for himself in the ring. Hector Villa (Kuno Becker) may have the spirit of a winner, but his better judgment is consistently clouded by his anger. Though Hector picks fruit on the Texas ranch of Big Al Stevens during the daylight hours, nightfall finds the migrant laborer earning more than a day's pay by fighting for cash in local bars and converted barns. When Hector's mother, Rosa, falls ill, her loyal son takes as many fights as possible in order to pay for her expensive heart medication. But Big Al's son Robert is the undefeated champ of the local boxing scene, and when Big Al learns that Hector may be capable of delivering the blow that could dethrone his son, he has his henchmen beat Hector and leave him for dead in the Mexican desert. Now homeless and penniless on the desolate streets of Mexico, Hector is forced to literally fight for his life. When Hector learns that his mother has died, he seeks out local fighting legend Billy Jenkins in hopes that the grizzled former boxer and trainer will help him develop the skills needed to settle the score with Big Al and Robert. The man who once served as Robert's coach before learning that the unscrupulous young fighter was "on the juice," Billy knows that there is no way Hector could beat an opponent with such an unfair advantage. Upon learning that Big Al has accepted Hector's challenge to take on his son Robert thanks to the persuasive efforts of the migrant community, Hector and Billy begin training for the fight that could make or break Hector's future career in the ring. more

PG-13, 1 hr. 37 min.

Give 'em Hell Malone

35%

Thomas Jane, Ving Rhames,

Synopsis: A legendary gunman discovers why sometimes the simplest-sounding missions can also be the most dangerous when he attempts to recover a briefcase containing "the meaning of love" from a five-star hotel. Even the worst criminals tremble with fear upon hearing the name Malone (Thomas Jane). If only half of the rumors surrounding the tough-as-nails triggerman are true, then he's still the meanest guy ever to walk these unforgiving streets. Some say that Malone picked up his first gun after gangsters killed his entire family, and those are the most optimistic rumors concerning his shady background. Contacted by his point man, Murph, and asked to retrieve a briefcase from a haughty local hotel, Malone makes quick work of the thugs and hitmen who've been awaiting his arrival. But Malone didn't expect to walk into a shoot-out, and after pressing Murph for more information, he discovers that the man who contracted him for the perilous assignment was none other than powerful local mob boss Whitmore. Now that he has the briefcase, Malone is supposed to give it to blonde bombshell Evelyn (Elsa Pataky), who will in turn deliver it to Whitmore in exchange for her brother Sammy. Should the briefcase fail to materialize, Sammy will pay the ultimate price. Meanwhile, suspecting that the case contains work visas for a group of immigrant girls he wants to put to work as prostitutes, Whitmore recruits hulking giant Boulder (Ving Rhames) and blade-wielding psycho Mauler (Chris Yen) to get the briefcase back from Malone. Should they fail in achieving this simple task, deranged pyromaniac Matchstick (Doug Hutchison) will almost certainly succeed. Later, at the drop-off, Mauler kills Sammy, sparking an intense shoot-out during which Malone and Evelyn are separated. With nowhere to run and the three thugs fast gaining ground, Malone vows to protect the contents of the case and take down Whitmore once and for all. more

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

White Shadows in the South Seas

29%

Monte Blue, Raquel Torres,

Synopsis: Filmed on location in Tahiti, White Shadows in the South Seas was originally intended as a project for famed documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty, whose Nanook of the North had cleaned up at the boxoffice. At first given complete artistic control, Flaherty began faltering in terms of keeping cast and crew organized; even worse, he moved too slowly to suit his parent studio MGM. More and more directorial authority was relegated to Flaherty's assistant, the phenominally fast W. S. "Woody" Van Dyke. Frustrated, Flaherty resigned (some reports claim that he fell ill and was taken off the project), and the film became solely the responsibility of Van Dyke. Despite the wails from the pro-Flaherty camp about "compromise" and "bastardization", the finished White Shadows in the South Seas is a superlative work. Loosely based on a 1919 book by Frederick O'Brien, the film charts the denigration of the South Sea islands and its denizens thanks to the intervention of white civilization. Monte Blue plays a alcoholic doctor who is disgusted by the negative effects of European colonization. He sails away to an island still untouched by "white shadows", where he falls in love with native girl Raquel Torres. Enchanted by the idyllic lifestyle of the islanders, Blue reacts with horror when he sees a group of white men sailing into view, bringing their usual seductive trinkets of alcohol and cigarettes. Attempting to quell the invasion, Blue is killed. As her island falls victim to civilization, Raquel mourns over her lover's grave. Gorgeously photographed, White Shadows in the South Seas is a masterful blend of drama and documentary. Most surviving prints do not include the clumsily constructed talkie sequences, wherein Monte Blue teaches Raquel Torres how to whistle (this scene works far better when conveyed silently). more

Unrated, 1 hr. 28 min.

Valley of the Heart's Delight

Gabriel Mann, Pete Postlethwaite,

Synopsis: A young reporter is forced to take an active role in a story he's covering in this drama inspired by a true story. Jack Daumier (Gabriel Mann) is a journalist who has just been hired to write for The Valley Standard, a newspaper in San Jose, California published by Albion Munson (Pete Postlethwaite). While much of the country is mired in the great depression, San Jose's agricultural industry is prospering, and Jack mostly finds himself covering fluffy, inconsequential stories; he thinks he's following another one when he's asked to attend a party thrown by Horace and Natalie Walsh (Bruce McGill and Diana Scarwid) in honor of their son Blake Walsh (Joe Mandragona), who has been named second-in-command a Horace's successful department store. Jack thinks meeting Blake's beautiful sister Helen (Emily Harrison) is the high point of the evening until Blake disappears after stepping out for a moment. Horace is later contacted by kidnappers, who are holding Blake for ransom. As local and federal authorities squabble over how to handle the case and rival reporters from around the state invade San Jose to cover the kidnapping, two men are arrested and charged with the crime. A handful of powerful local businessmen are determined to see that "justice is served" and are ready to take the law into their own hands, but Jack speaks to a witness who makes a compelling case for the innocence of the accused men, and Jack decides he has to intervene to insure their safety. Valley Of The Heart's Delight was based in part on the 1933 abduction of Brooke L. Hart, though the story has been fictionalized for this adaptation. more

PG-13, 1 hr. 37 min.

Singh Is Kinng

52%

Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif,

Synopsis: Singh Is Kinng, the year's most anticipated romantic action-comedy, revolves around a gang of serio-comic criminals who are transformed by a good man and his selfless love for a pretty girl...Lakhan. Singh aka Lucky is the 'King' of the Australian underworld accompanied by his associates. Far away, in a small village in Punjab, where Lucky was born, there exists someone more notorious than Lucky - Happy Singh. The village is fed up of his magnanimity, which has resulted in several disastrous situations. It is decided to send Singh on a long trip (that will keep him out of the village for a while) to bring back Lucky, whose despicable deeds, were maligning the image of their village. A happy-go-lucky Happy Singh, as usual, takes his mission too seriously! Along with his friend Tony Singh, who hates Happy for dragging him into this journey, he leaves for his mission. En route to Australia, he meets Sonia with whom he falls in love. After a series of comic misadventures in Australia, Happy is left with no money or shelter. The series of confusion, chaos and comic misunderstandings result in havoc, redemption and an accidental wedding! Singh Is Kinng marks Akshay Kumar's re-entry into the action-comedy minefield, supported by an able ensemble cast. With plenty of romance, chuckles, laugh-aloud moments and world music, it promises to be one of the most appealing and compelling motion pictures of 2008. more

Unrated, 2 hr. 32 min.

Mad Detective

84% 85%

Ching Wan Lau, Andy On,

Synopsis: A psychotic ex-policeman with a mysterious supernatural gift proves invaluable in the case of a missing police firearm and its vanished owner in this tense police thriller from co-directors Johnny To (Fulltime Killer) and Wai Ka-fai (Running on Karma). Bun is an outcast detective who always seems to crack the case despite having some rather serious personality flaws. When Bun slices off his ear and offers it up as a gift at a party staged to honor one of his superiors, he is promptly forced into early retirement. Subsequently withdrawn into his own world and tormented by the specters of his former vocation, Bun finds his unique ability to see the hidden personalities and inner demons of everyone he meets nearly driving him to insanity. As a policeman Bun's gift of second sight helped him to solve some of the department's most difficult cases, but now that the visions serve no purpose, they simply serve to erode his already fragile sense of reality. Yet despite Bun's bad reputation, ambitious inspector Ho (Andy On) still believes in him. Recently, Ho has been assigned the difficult case of a locating a missing policeman named Wong (Lee Kwok Lun), who disappeared after pursuing some suspects into the nearby mountains. While Bun is indeed eager to help out with the case, he soon finds his volatile personality clashing with the seven conflicting personalities of Wong's apparently schizophrenic partner Chi-wai (Lam Ka-tung). more

Unrated, 1 hr. 29 min.

Mirageman

71%

Marko Zaror, María Elena Swett,

Synopsis: The principal players behind the Chilean martial arts hit Kiltro reunite for this action-packed tale of a young orphan who grows up to be a vigilante crime fighter. Maco (Marko Zaror) was just a young boy when his family became the victims of a violent home invasion that resulted in the death of his parents and rendered his younger brother nearly catatonic. Years later, Maco pays regular visits to his brother in a nearby mental institution, and pays his bills by working as a bouncer in a seedy strip club. Every minute of Maco's spare time is dedicated to perfecting his skills as a martial artist so that he can never be victimized again. One night, after stumbling across a home invasion in progress, Maco instinctively leaps into action - saving a woman from being raped and triggering a fateful series of events. As fate would have it, the would-be rape victim was actually a prominent television reporter, and decides to pay tribute to her savior during a live television broadcast. Upon seeing the report, Maco's younger brother begins to experience visions of superheroes that instill him with a newfound sense of hope and mysteriously improve his condition. Recognizing that the only way to save his brother may be to transform himself into the hero that the media has made him out to be, Maco dons a homemade mask and begins fighting crime on the streets. Meanwhile, a well-meaning buffoon sets out to become Maco's official sidekick, and the reporter gradually sheds her earnest façade in a series of sensationalistic news reports aimed solely at grabbing ratings. more

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Camille

46%

Sienna Miller, James Franco,

Synopsis: Sienna Miller and James Franco star in first-time producer/director Gregory Mackenzie's twisted romance about a honeymooning couple who discovers that sometimes love is stronger than death. Recent parolee Silas (Franco) has just been blackmailed into marrying the beautiful Camille (Miller), and he's none to happy about the arrangement; despite the fact that he can't stand her, she still worships the ground he walks on. But now the law is family, and should the union fail, Silas' new uncle-in-law, Sheriff Foster (Scott Glen), will ensure that the disgruntled groom is sent back to the slammer in a flash. Immediately after the wedding, however, things get complicated when Silas and Camille are run off the road by a reckless truck driver. When Silas regains conscious and stumbles over to Camille's contorted body, it's obvious that she's suffered a fatal injury in the accident. After fleeing the scene and attempting to summon help, Silas returns to the sight of the crash and finds Camille nursing a serious neck injury down by the river while frantically trying to get the grass stains out of her wedding dress. Desperate, the couple hitches a ride with the nomadic Cowboy Bob (David Carradine), eventually realizing that Camille didn't survive the accident despite the fact that she's somehow able to walk and talk with the living. As Camille's body begins to decay, the situation grows complicated when the couple learns that the police are on their trail for an imagined robbery and murder. more

PG-13, 1 hr. 31 min.

The Big Circus

46%

Rhonda Fleming, Victor Mature,

Synopsis: Victor Mature, in one of his last leading man performances, plays Hank Whirling, the owner of a financially shaky circus who is trying to get back on his feet, despite cutthroat competition from a rival organization. He also has a younger sister (Kathryn Grant) to watch out for. After arranging for a bank loan, he discovers that he's got two new members of "management" to contend with: persnickety bank officer Randy Sherman (Red Buttons), who is put there to safeguard the loan, and press agent Helen Harrison (Rhonda Fleming), who is hired by Sherman to help get the Whirling Circus some publicity. Hank can't abide the presence of either of them, or, more to the point, the idea of sharing his authority, though Randy means well and Helen is very good to look at and does know her job. The circus owner can barely take the time to deal with either of them, however, with shows to give and an apparent saboteur at work, who grows bolder with each passing day and finally starts getting people killed. In the course of trying to save the show, aerialist Zack Colino (Gilbert Roland) commits himself to a headline-making publicity stunt -- covered heavily by television news as well -- that Helen merely rattles off without thinking, of walking a wire across Niagara Falls. Colino also figures heavily in the denouement, a tense chase under the big top that develops as the man responsible for the train wrecks, escaped animals, fires, and other sabotage is identified and goes on the run. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 48 min.

Battle For The Planet Of The Apes

38% 32%

Roddy McDowall, Natalie Trundy,

Synopsis: The fifth and last of the original series of motion pictures based upon author Pierre Boulle's imaginative novel Monkey Planet, this science fiction film was the least-liked by the series' legion of fans. Roddy McDowall returns as Caesar, the rebellious intelligent chimp of the previous film, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972). Caesar led his brethren in a revolution against their human masters earlier, but humanity has since nearly destroyed itself in a nuclear apocalypse, and survivors are second-class citizens within ape society. Now a beneficent ruler of his people, Caesar encourages a fragile, peaceful coexistence with humans, despite the protests of militaristic gorilla leader General Aldo (Claude Akins). When Caesar learns that recordings of his murdered parents may exist in the Forbidden City, he journeys to the irradiated wasteland with the human MacDonald (Austin Stoker) and the wise orangutan Virgil (Paul Williams). Although Caesar finds what he's looking for, he also attracts unwanted attention: mutant humans who still dwell underground in the devastated war zone follow the search party back home, leading to a climactic battle and Aldo's tragic challenge of Caesar's authority. Suffering greatly due to penny-pinching studio 20th Century Fox's low budget, Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) is most notable for a cameo by director John Huston as an ape named "The Lawgiver," who appears in a wraparound segment. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi more

G, 1 hr. 26 min.

The Hit

85% 74%

John Hurt, Tim Roth,

Synopsis: In this offbeat crime film, Willie Parker (Terence Stamp) an English mobster turned informant, has been given a new identity and has been living in a small, isolated village in Spain for 10 years. Unfortunately for Parker, the men he has betrayed have ascertained his whereabouts and send Braddock (John Hurt), a professional hitman, and his apprentice Myron (Tim Roth) to bring Parker to Paris where his ex-associates await. After kidnapping Parker, nothing goes as planned. Now they are followed by a Spanish policeman (Fernando Rey) who seems to anticipate each of their moves, and they are burdened by Maggie (Laura del Sol), the mistress of a fellow mobster they were forced to kill. What should have been a routine hit becomes a psychological battle between all the participants as Parker, in a fight for time and for his life, plays one against the other. Set against the bleak Spanish landscape and featuring evocative and memorable theme music, the film builds to a surprising conclusion where the true nature of all the characters is revealed. Terence Stamp develops the character of Parker in a subtle but surprisingly comic performance and Laura del Sol shines as a woman who will do what is necessary to survive. Tim Roth, in his film debut, plays a brutal, but oddly endearing thug. But it is John Hurt, in a sensitive and nuanced performance, who brings a perceptive intelligence and depth to his role which adds a philosophical and psychological dimension to the film. Hurt plays his difficult role without a misstep and with a rare economy of action. Thoughtful and frequently amusing, The Hit, superbly written by Peter Prince, is both a compelling and suspenseful crime drama and also a deep and profound meditation on life, death and courage. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi more

R, 1 hr. 37 min.

Far Cry

12%

Til Schweiger, Emmanuelle Vaugier,

Synopsis: A hardened seaman and a dogged reporter become trapped on an island with a mysterious scientist, a ruthless band of mercenaries, and a vicious pack of unidentifiable creatures in BloodRayne director Uwe Boll's seventh video game-to-screen adaptation. A team of mercenaries has been attacked on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest, and as mysterious reports begin to emerge from the chaos, a veteran Seattle newspaper editor sends top reporters Tom Moore and Valerie Constantine to the scene in hopes of getting the scoop on the story. Shortly after arriving on the island under the guidance of ship captain Jack Carver (Til Schweiger), the trio is attacked by mercenary commander Maria Sanchez. Though Tom is killed, Valerie and Jack manage to stage a daring escape and quickly begin to bicker over their plan as Maria's murderous soldiers fast begin gaining ground. Despite Captain Jack's plan to locate his friend Emilio and get off of the island as quickly as possible, reporter Valerie remains determined to investigate the strange situation and get as many details as possible for her upcoming story. Later, when Jack, Valerie, and Emilio are captured and taken to the secret lab of genius scientist Dr. Krieger, Valerie is extended an invitation to join the doctor in announcing his latest findings to the world. Though it finally seems as if Valerie has gotten just the scoop needed to make her story, the situation quickly turns chaotic when one of Dr. Kreiger's creatures escapes from the lab and sets out on a murderous rampage. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi more

R, 1 hr. 35 min.

Gulliver's Travels

67% 53%

Jessica Dragonette, Lanny Ross,

Synopsis: Impressed by the success of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Paramount Pictures ordered the studio's resident animation producer Max Fleischer to come up with a feature-length cartoon of his own. Utilizing an expanded staff and new production facilities in Miami, Florida, Fleischer and his brother Dave Fleischer spent six months mulling over story properties before deciding upon Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels; 20 months later, the film was completed and ready for release. Only the first part of Swift's novel, taking place in the miniature lands of Lilliput and Blefuscu, was used in the film, while the original plot, a satire of warfare stemming from an argument over which end of an egg to crack, was jettisoned entirely in favor of a sappy love story with slapstick overtones. Shipwrecked by a storm at sea, normal-sized Lemuel Gulliver washes up on the shore of Lilliput, where the citizens are no larger than Gulliver's thumb. Discovered by excitable town crier Gabby, Gulliver is roped to the ground by the Lilliputians, only to escape with ease upon waking up. While longing to head homeward to England, Gulliver becomes involved in a feud between Lilliput's King Little and Blefuscu's King Bombo. On the eve of the wedding between Little's son Prince David and Bombo's daughter Princess Glory, the two monarchs have a falling out over which national anthem will be played at the ceremony. After a seemingly endless series of misunderstandings and intrigues-many of them perpetrated by Bombo's comic-opera spies Sneak, Snoop and Snitch-Gulliver solves everyone's problems by suggesting that both anthems be played together, resulting in what was supposed to have been the film's hit song "Faithful Forever". Lacking the emotional "pull" of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs--not to mention the excellence of Disney's animation--Gulliver's Travels must rely upon the slapstick antics of Gabby, the three spies, and carrier pigeon Twinkletoes to keep the audience awake (all of these characters would be spun off into cartoon series of their own). The songs, like the film itself, are nothing special, though Paramount managed to get a lot of mileage out of "All's Well" and "It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day". Singers Sam Parker, Lanny Ross and Jessica Dragonette are heard as Gulliver, David and Glory, while such Fleischer "regulars" as Jack Mercer and Pinto Colvig play the comic roles. Its many flaws aside, Gulliver's Travels was reasonably successful at the box office, though one wonders if it wouldn't have been an even bigger hit had the Fleischers followed through with their original plan to cast Popeye the Sailor in the role of Gulliver. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi more

Unrated, 1 hr. 14 min.

Starlight over Texas

Tex Ritter, Carmen Laroux,

Synopsis: The first Tex Ritter Western from Monogram Pictures, Starlight Over Texas contained the singing cowboy's trademark mix of furious fist-fight, ornery Charles King, and a slew of musical numbers. Unfortunately, Monogram also inherited Ritter's main weaknesses: idiotic sidekicks (Horace Murphy and Snub Pollard), slipshod direction (by Al Herman), meandering plots, and the aforementioned slew of musical numbers. At least Starlight Over Texas featured an eye-catching fiesta in addition to Ritter's warbling of such tunes as Pickens by A.J. Brier and Starlight Over Texas by Harry Tobias and Al Von Tilzer. Ritter played Tex Newman, a United States Marshal assigned to look into a series of Indian raids on the border to Mexico. As it turns out, the raids are committed by a gang of outlaws only masquerading as Indians. The leader of the gang, Kildare (Karl Hackett), murders a marshal and assumes his identity. Tex. of course, does not fall for the masquerade for long and the inevitable chase across the border ends with the capture of Kildare. Executive producer Edward F. Findley moved his entire "Boots and Saddles" operation from the floundering Grand National to Monogram without missing a beat. Along for the ride, in addition to sidekicks Murphy and Pollard and director Herman, were music director Frank Sanucci, assistant director Bobby Ray, cinematographer Francis Corby and film editor Frederick Bain. more

Unrated, 55 min.

El Norte

84% 81%

David Villalpando, Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez,

Synopsis: "When will we find a home?" Rosa asks her brother Enrique at the end of their long journey. Alone in a strange land, they have only each other. The search for roots and the importance of family inform Gregory Nava's and Anna Thomas's lyrical and emotionally powerful El Norte, just as they will the filmmakers' later My Family, which showed at Sundance in 1995. One of the first films to portray faithfully the plight of Central American political refugees, El Norte is a remarkable fusion of documentary realism and visual poetry. When their father is killed and their mother arrested by the military, Rosa and Enrique flee the coffee fields of Guatemala for el norte, a place they know only from pictures in their godmother Josefita's Better Homes and Gardens magazines. Their trip is often harrowing, taking them through the teeming squalor of Tijuana to the anonymous streets of Los Angeles, but there is time for joy and laughter, too. They learn English in a lively night school, and when Rosa is intimidated by the laundry room in the house she is cleaning at her new job, she washes the clothes by hand and spreads them on the lawn to dry as she used to do at home. Thomas's eloquently crafted characters are brought to vibrant life by Zaide Gutierrez's and David Villalpando's remarkable performances, and the authentic music and James Glennon's moody cinematography create an indelible sense of place. Roger Ebert calls El Norte a modern Grapes of Wrath, but it is also a very warm and personal story about the resilience of the human spirit and a celebration of hope that survives in the face of despair. more

R, 2 hr. 21 min.

Kung Fu Killer

24%

David Carradine, Daryl Hannah,

Synopsis: Kill Bill stars David Carradine and Daryl Hannah reunite for this two-part television mini-series set in late 1920s China, and following a Wudang monk and a vengeful lounge singer on their violent quest to assassinate the man responsible for killing their loved ones and destroying their lives. The orphaned son of Western missionaries, White Crane (Carradine) was trained by Wudang monks to become a spiritual leader and martial arts master. When Kahn Xin (Lim Kay Tong) and his murderous henchmen kill White Crane's mentor during a brutal raid on the Wudang temple, Crane infiltrates the Shainghai underworld on a mission to track Kahn down and ensure that justice is served. But during the course of his quest, Crane crosses paths with Jane Marshall (Hannah), a nightclub singer from Manhattan who also has a score to settle with Kahn. Kahn has kidnapped Jane's brother and the time to rescue him is fast running out. When Crane and Jane realize Kahn's diabolical plans are in fact much more ambitious and malevolent than previously suspected, they hatch a daring plan to enter his inner circle and destroy his gang from the inside out. Later, just as everything begins to fall into place and Kahn's empire quickly begins to crumble, Crane suddenly faces a serious moral dilemma - how can he reconcile his all-consuming hunger for revenge with the peaceful teachings of his Wudang mentors? Later, as Crane returns to help rebuild the fallen Wudang temple, he receives word that his old nemesis Bai Tang has kidnapped Jane back in Shanghai. Now, in order to prevent Jane from being forced into a life of sexual slavery, Crane and his faithful protégé Bingo (Osric Chau) set out to rescue her before all hope is lost. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 33 min.

Welcome to Dongmakgol

86% 92%

Ha-kyun Shin, Lim Ha-ryong,

Synopsis: Opening in September of 1950, after U.S.-led forces had landed in Incheon, turning the tide of the Korean War, Welcome to Dongmakgol tells the (fictional) story of a remote little village where the residents have never seen guns, and are completely ignorant of the conflict going on in their country. Their simple, quiet lives are disrupted when an American pilot, Smith (Steve Taschler), crashes just outside the village. While the kindly villagers tend to Smith's injuries, a pair of North Korean soldiers, young gung-ho Seo Taek-gi (Ryu Deok-hyeon) and the older Jang Young-hee (Lim Ha-ryong), and their commander, Lee Su-hwa (Jeong Jae-yeong), as well as a pair of South Korean soldiers, deserter Pyo Hyun-chul (Shin Ha-kyun of Save the Green Planet!) and medic Mun Sang-sang (Seo Jae-gyeong), all find themselves stranded in the little village. There's a lengthy standoff, but when the soldiers accidentally destroy the town's food supply, they all reluctantly agree to work together to help the town restore the food so they'll survive the coming winter. Before long, the soldiers begin to connect with one another and form a strong bond with the locals. There's even a budding romance between Taek-gi and a kooky, carefree village girl, Yeo-il (Kang Hye-jeong). Unfortunately for everyone, UN forces believe that Smith was shot down by North Korean forces, and are prepared to bomb the region to protect an important supply route. Welcome to Dongmakgol was a surprise blockbuster in South Korea. The film marks the feature debut of writer/director Park Gwang-hyeon, and is based on a play by Jang Jin. It had its U.S. premiere at the 2006 New York Asian Film Festival, presented by Subway Cinema. more

Unrated,

Circulation

25%

Yvonne Delarosa, Sherman Koltz,

Synopsis: Set in a purgatory where the dead still retain their human form while gradually adapting the instincts that animals are naturally born with, director Ryan Harper's heady horror fantasy follows the bizarre journey of Ana, a woman who finds herself trapped between two worlds following a frightening encounter. Ana is on her way to be with her new boyfriend at a seaside hotel when her jealous ex-boyfriend shows up seeking revenge. A harrowing struggle follows, and as the violent brut attempts to kidnap the resisting beauty, both are killed in a deadly car accident. Later, after emerging from the wreckage and walking down the highway in search of help, the severely injured Ana is picked up by a vacationing American tourist named Gene. At first Ana is reluctant to ride with the gruff retiree, but it doesn't take her long to realize that he's her only hope for reaching the hotel where her boyfriend awaits. Ana doesn't speak a word of English, and Gene isn't at all fluent in Spanish, and when the pair arrives at the hotel they discover something truly unnerving. Not only has the once lavish resort inexplicably fallen to ruin, but the people who inhabit all exhibit strange animalistic qualities. Terrified, Ana begs Gene to drive her home, where she is bitterly rejected by her deceased brother. Dreams of her animal self lead the frightened wanderer to suspect that forces beyond her comprehension may be at work, and as the days stretch on and her visions become more vivid Ana soon begins to embrace the animal within. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 28 min.

Boss Nigger (The Black Bounty Killer)

73%

Fred Williamson, Jerry Butler,

Synopsis: A black cowboy saves a frontier town from both the law and the bad guys in this western written by and starring Fred "The Hammer" Williamson. Boss (Williamson) is an African-American bounty hunter traveling though the Wild West with his best friend and sidekick Amos (D'urville Martin), gunning down wanted men and claiming the rewards when they make their way into town. When Boss bests a man in a gunfight, he discovers the victim had an invitation to become sheriff of San Miguel, a town under the control of notorious outlaw Jed Clayton (William Smith). Boss and Amos head to San Miguel, hoping to claim the hefty reward for capturing Clayton, but they discover the corrupt and venal Mayor Griffin (R.G. Armstrong) has to be bullied into making a black man sheriff. When Boss shoots two of Clayton's henchman during a barroom brawl, it brings the outlaw out of hiding, but it also makes life dangerous for anyone who dares to side with Boss, including Clara Mae (Carmen Hayworth), a beautiful woman he rescued from an ambush that claimed her father. Boss also finds time for a romantic assignation with Miss Pruitt (Barbara Leigh), the town's pretty schoolmarm, and Amos's new career as deputy allows him to interpret certain laws to his own advantage. Boss Nigger was also distributed under the less controversial title The Black Bounty Hunter, and has been released on home video simply as Boss. more

PG, 1 hr. 27 min.

The Vanguard

16%

Jack Bailey, Bahi Ghubril,

Synopsis: In an apocalyptic future where the human race is poised on the brink of extinction and science has created the ultimate abomination of nature, a lone hunter gatherer realizes the essence of his being while fighting to survive. The year is 2015: the world's petroleum reserves have been depleted due to the oil wars, and the planet has fallen into a hopeless cycle of death and destruction. In an effort to remove the less desirable components of the human population, a powerful organization known only as The Corporation set into motion a heinous depopulation program. But The Corporation didn't expect their scientists to revolt, and in a desperate attempt to save the human race the disgruntled intellects created a drug that reverts normal humans into primitive, instinct-driven beasts known as Biosyns. Biosyns are virtually blind, relying almost entirely on scent and sound to stalk their prey. Max is a young man who lives by himself in the wilderness. Most of his days are spent eliminating as many Biosyns as possible, but lately he's been noticing something strange among the creature's ranks; not only are they beginning to communicate, but they're starting to travel in groups and their vision seems to be returning as well. The Corporations views Max's existence as a threat, and no they've dispatched a squad of genetically engineered soldiers known as Trackers to dispatch with him. But as the chief tracker watches Max battle a raging horde of Biosynths, he begins to reevaluate his original mission. Perhaps if Max and the Tracker can travel far enough south they will be able to find a place of refuge. According to travelers Zac and Rachel, there's s powerful resistance movement down south. Now, as this unlikely group struggles to find a way out of the wasteland, they stumble right into the middle of a violent war between the raging Biosyns and the Corporation's increasingly strained army. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi more

Unrated, 1 hr. 36 min.

Class of 1999

60% 51%

Bradley Gregg, Traci Lind,

Synopsis: Mark L. Lester's follow-up film to his Class of 1984 is a rancidly violent peek at a near-future high school world of terror -- The Jetsons meet The Terminator. In Lester's world, total anarchy rules (at least in Seattle). Classrooms are sinkholes of violence, and around the kill-zone high schools "Free Fire Zones" are set up that look like re-creations of Dachau. Rival youth gangs roam these areas with enough artillery for a second Vietnam War. The gangs' insane violence is exacerbated by a drug called Edge. When the Department of Educational Defense needs to supply new teachers, they look to a secret government agency headed by Dr. Bob Forrest (Stacy Keach) who sends new teaching recruits (Pam Grier, John P. Ryan, Joshua Miller) to the beleaguered high school. These novice teachers are not your ordinary teaching-college graduates, however. They are "tactical education units" -- cyborgs reprogrammed to teach readin' and writin' and 'rithmetic. If the students don't learn their daily assignments, they learn an even bigger lesson -- learn or die. The strict disciplinarian robots compel the student gangs to unite and fight the new educational menace. Under the leadership of Cody Culp (Bradley Gregg), who has just gotten out of reform school and has seen that there is more to life than killin' and cuttin' and Edge, the punks take up arms against the cyborgs who are invading their high-school turf. more

R, 1 hr. 38 min.

Towards Darkness

11% 51%

America Ferrera, David Sutcliffe,

Synopsis: First-time director/screenwriter Antonio Negret details the frightening trend of kidnapping in Columbia with this tense tale of a young photographer who is abducted and held for ransom as his desperate parents scramble to raise the money that could save their child's life. Jose Gutierrez (Roberto Urbina) is a Columbian photographer in his early twenties who had come to America in order to pursue an education. Upon returning to his homeland, Jose is greeted by his good friends Jaime (Andres Toro), Pedro (Roberto Cano), and Luiza (America Ferrera). In the following days, Luiza attempts to show Jose just how much beauty Columbia truly has to offer. Despite the undeniable beauty of the land, however, Columbia holds a hidden danger that many fail to see until it's too late. Unfortunately for Jose, the night he realizes his love for Luiza and his homeland is the very same night that vicious kidnapping ringleader Manuel (Carlos Valencia) decides to strike. Now, realizing that their son's fate relies solely on the speed with which the ransom can be delivered, Jose's parents, Marta (Alejandra Borrero) and Carlos (Tony Plana), hire an American "kidnap and ransom" company led by the experienced John (William Atherton) and his partners Victor (Cameron Daddo) and Charlie (David Sutcliffe) to negotiate with the quick-tempered Manuel. When Marta and Carlos' insurance company denies the claim and John attempts to reason with the increasingly erratic kidnapper, Victor begins to fear that time is running out and rounds up a team of special-ops soldiers to search for Jose by helicopter. With only 90 minutes to go before the deadline is up and Jose is killed, the race is on to either deliver the ransom or confront the kidnappers with force and firepower. more

R, 1 hr. 32 min.

Hybrid

27%

Justine Bateman, Cory Monteith,

Synopsis: An experimental, cross-species organ transplant causes a young security dispatcher to begin acting on his animal instincts in this curious take on the werewolf legend starring Cory Monteith and Justine Bateman. When Aaron Scates (Monteith) was blinded in an explosion, he thought he would never see again. When Aaron is placed under the care of Dr. Andrea Hewlitt (Bateman), however, it begins to appear as if there may be hope for his sense of sight after all. Renowned for her extraordinary yet controversial medical breakthroughs, Dr. Hewlitt is currently exploring the prospect of animal-to-human organ transplants. When museum curator Lydia Armstrong (Tinsel Korey) arrives at Dr. Hewlitt's office carrying a critically injured wolf, Dr. Hewlitt senses the perfect opportunity to finally put her theories to practice. But while Dr. Hewlitt does manage to successfully transplant the wolf's eyes to her desperate test subject, Lydia makes no secret of her objection to the operation. In the aftermath of the surgery, Aaron not only regains his vision, but acquires such unique abilities as the power to see on the dark and a heightened sense of hearing as well. But when Aaron begins to crave raw steak and target people as prey, it becomes readily apparent that he's undergoing an unusual transformation. Now the only person capable of understanding Aaron's bizarre plight is Lydia, because she, too, is a cross-breed. With the help of her shaman friend Lydia has learned to harness her feral instincts as a source of strength, but will Aaron be capable of accomplishing the same formidable feat, or will his animal instinct ultimately get the better of him? more

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.

Encrypt

30%

Grant Show, Vivian Wu,

Synopsis: In the year 2068, the Earth's surface is in a cataclysmic upheaval, much of it transformed into wasteland by unstoppable storms (the byproduct, of course, of the destruction of the Ozone Layer). A few hardy souls have dedicated themselves to preserving and protecting what is left of mankind; among these is former Army Captain John Thomas Garth (Grant Show). Approached by Lapierre (Steve Bacic), a former comrade in arms and now in the employ of grasping eco-profiteer Anton Reich (Art Hindle), Garth is made an offer he can't refuse. In exchange for the opportunity to save his father and several other apocalypse survivors, Reich agrees to lead a small team of mercenaries into the near-impenetrable Vincent estate to "liberate" the priceless works of art that had been stored there before civilization collapsed. Accompanied by reconnaissance specialist Fernandez (Naomi Gaskin), sniper King (Matthew G. Taylor), and tech genius Ebershaw (Wayne Ward), Garth must find some way to circumvent Encrypt, the deadly computerized security system surrounding the estate. Other obstacles include the Rook, a human-destroying robot, and Diana (Vivian Wu), the holographic security chief at the estate -- and a double danger because she possesses not only the means of mass destruction, but also a conscience. A two-hour cable movie that has "series pilot" written all over it, Encrypt premiered June 14, 2003, on the Sci-Fi Channel. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 35 min.

All Hat

20% 19%

Luke Kirby, Keith Carradine,

Synopsis: Luke Kirby and Keith Carradine star in director Leonard Farlinger's adaptation of author Brad Smith's laid back neo-western novel. Ray Dokes (Kirby) has just been released from prison, and now as the laconic ex-con makes his way back home he is stunned to see just how much progress has transformed the countryside of his youth. Looking to lie low for a while, Ray heads to the farm of his good friend Pete Culpepper (Keith Carradine). A garrulous farmer who's drowning in debt, Pete is a true Texas cowboy whose corn seems too stubborn to grow this season. The first order of business for Ray is to visit his old flame Etta (Lisa Ray, but things have gotten complicated since Ray was put away and making his way to the woman he loves isn't going to be nearly as easy as he had hoped. Soon after hooking up with firebrand jockey Chrissis (Rachel Leigh Cook), Ray discovers that his old nemesis Sonny Staunton (Noam Jenkins) - the wealthy heir to a thoroughbred dynasty - is currently attempting to buy up as much farmland as possible in order to start breaking ground on a luxurious new golf course. It seems that Etta is the only member of the rural community bold enough to stand up against Sonny, but when a valuable thoroughbred goes missing from Staunton Stables the desperate entrepreneur forces the sale of the area's few remaining farms. Realizing the danger of contending with such a powerful and determined man (after all, it was Sonny who got Ray locked away in the first place), Ray does his best to sideline Sonny's nefarious plan and save the remaining farmlands without making the one false move that could land him back in jail. more

R, 1 hr. 29 min.

Om Shanti Om

77% 76%

Shahrukh Khan, Arjun Rampal,

Synopsis: Love and dreams follow two starry-eyed actors across three decades and two incarnations in this splashy Hindi musical. It's the early '70s, and Om Prakash Makhija (Shah Rukh Khan) is a young would-be actor who has been playing bit parts in Bollywood musicals while looking for his big break. Om's ambition is to become a film star and win the heart of beautiful screen siren Shantipriya (Deepika Padukone), and his pal Pappu (Shreyas Talpade) and his mother, Bela (Kirron Kher), both encourage him not to give up on his dreams. One day, Om meets Shantipriya on a movie set, and he feels as if destiny is finally smiling on him, but when he overhears her having an argument with studio chief Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal), Om senses things are not as they should be. Before Om can decide what to make of his misgivings, the studio burns to the ground, claiming the lives of Om and Shantipriya. Thirty years later, a bit of Om's spirit seems to live on in Om Kapoor (also played by Shah Rukh Khan), a popular film actor with a large ego and a fear of flame who was born the day the old studio burned down. Despite his fame, Om is lonely, at least until he meets Sandhya (also played by Deepika Padukone), a shy but eager would-be actress looking for her chance to become a star. Om Shanti Om was directed and co-written by Farah Khan, who was a top choreographer in the Indian film industry before moving up to the director's chair, and features guest spots from a number of Bollywood's greatest stars, a few appearing in the form of digital recreations taken from films of the '70s. more

PG-13, 2 hr. 42 min.

Purple Heart

100%

Demetrius Navarro, Ed Lauter,

Synopsis: William Sadler and Ed Lauter star in this war drama about a Marine sniper who is captured by the Iraqi government while on a covert mission to assassinate Saddam Hussein, and the threat he faces from his own superiors after he returns to the United States and escapes the psychiatric hospital where he is being held for evaluation. Epsilon Force is a shadowy military unit created for the sole purpose of assassinating foreign leaders who are thought to threaten the interests of the United States. In 2003, just prior to the United States' invasion of Iraq, Epsilon Force leader Colonel Allen (Sadler) recruits twenty-four year old Marine Corps sniper Oscar Padilla (Demetrius Navarro) for the mission of assassinating Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Shortly after Padilla arrives in Iraq prepared to carry out his orders, however, he is captured by the enemy and tortured in a Baghdad prison. Miraculously, Padilla is eventually freed by his captors and returned to the United States, though the psychological scars he bears run deeper than any of his notable physical wounds. Upon his return home, Padilla is taken to a military hospital for psychiatric evaluation. When he escapes, the powers that be deem him an unacceptable risk due to the fact that the very existence of Epsilon Force goes in direct opposition to an Executive Order outlawing the assassination of foreign leaders. Now, as Padilla runs for his life, Colonel Allen is assigned the task of eliminating that risk before the entire classified operation comes crashing down all around him. more

R, 1 hr. 31 min.

The Toxic Avenger: Part II

0% 34%

Ron Fazio (II), John Altamura,

Synopsis: Ron Fazio returns as The Toxic Avenger, "the first hideously deformed monster hero of superhuman size and strength ever to come from New Jersey," in Troma's mercenary sequel to its hit film The Toxic Avenger. Since Toxie cleaned up Tromaville, New Jersey in the first film, he now has no one to fight. He works at the Tromaville Center for The Blind and has a girlfriend named Claire (Phoebe Legere). But the peace in Tromaville is shattered when an evil chemical company, Apocalypse Inc., and its dastardly chairman (Rick Collins), set their sights on Tromaville. In order to take over Tromaville, the Toxic Avenger must be eliminated. By intense study, Apocalypse's second-in-command, Maifaire (Lisa Gaye), discovers that Toxie's desire to vanquish villains is caused by particles manufactured in his body called "tromatons." Apocalypse Inc. bribes Toxie's psychiatrist to suggest that Toxie form a relationship with his father in order to get Toxie out of the country. His father happens to be in Japan and Toxie makes the trip to find him. While out of sight of his hometown, Apocalypse Inc. takes over Tromaville. Meanwhile, in Japan, Toxie finally finds his father but it turns out that his father is an arch-villain who must be killed. "Anti-tromatons" employed in the battle with his father render him weak and wounded, but a team of sumo wrestlers nurse him back to health and Toxie travels back to New Jersey for a confrontation with Apocalypse Inc. in Tromaville. more

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Diamond Dogs

14%

Dolph Lundgren, William Shriver,

Synopsis: A group of American fortune hunters enlist the aid of an American ex-patriot and ex-Army officer in seeking out a priceless treasure in the mountains of China, only to find their mission complicated by forces beyond their comprehension. The story begins in the 1930s, when the Soviets were cracking down on religion. A Buddhist artifact known as the Tangka was smuggled across the border into China, and secretly hidden deep in the mountains. The diamonds decorating the gold-inlaid textile alone are rumored to be worth $50 million, prompting a team of fearless fortune hunters to travel halfway around the world for an adventure that could make them rich beyond their wildest dreams. But these adventurers are going to need some help if they hope to recover the Tangka and make it back home alive, so they travel to inner-Mongolia in search of an experienced American ex-patriot named Xander Ronson (Dolph Lundgren). Ronson has served his time in the military, and now all he wants is to fade into obscurity while indulging in drink and women, and participating in the occasional bare-knuckle brawl. But Ronson is no fool; he realizes that if her were to find the Tangka he would never have to work another day, and he aggress to help the mercenaries track down their treasure for a healthy finder's fee. What the treasure hunters have failed to realize, however, is that Ronson is being tracked by a group of violent Russian mercenaries, and that the Tangka is protected by a sinister force with seemingly unlimited power. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi more

R, 1 hr. 34 min.

Totally Baked: A Pot-u-mentary

54%

Craig Shoemaker, Ivar Brogger,

Synopsis: Director Lee Abbot takes a satirical look at the stereotypes and mythologies of marijuana in this satirical mockumentary following a father who is forced to speak honestly with his daughter about pot, and a pro-pot advocate who hatches an ingenious plan to change the way America views weed. Thirty-seven year old concerned father Dave Berman was hosting a barbecue for his old college debate team when militant medical marijuana activists kicked in the door and seized his home. Later, after discovering that his teenage daughter Gina Marie has taken to reefer, Dave is forced shed his preconceptions about the drug if he holds out any hope of reconnecting with her. Meanwhile, pro-pot advocate Dr. Willa Peterson has grown so frustrated with her grassroots campaign being sabotaged by prohibition-minded corporations that she ultimately decides to take the battle to the next level. After convincing the makers of Fun-Onion snack foods that their profits would soar following legalization, Dr. Peterson enlists the aid of Public Relations genius Arturo Goldman in changing public opinion about pot. If his firm can successfully counter the government's tactics of using terrorism to frighten people away from pot by convincing the masses that pot can prevent homosexuality, Goldman may achieve the elusive goal of finally decriminalizing a substance that has never been proven either addictive or deadly. more

R, 1 hr. 28 min.

Ultimate Force

Mirko Filipovic, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic,

Synopsis: When the government's number one assassin fails to complete a high profile mission, he must fight to the death to prove his mettle and avoid becoming a victim of his own murderous game in this explosive thriller that marks the acting debut of Pride Fighting champion Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic. A highly decorated war hero and former tactical police officer, Axon Rey (Filipovic) is the perfect candidate to fight enemies of the state. Recruited by the Sanction Division of SATO (State Anti-Terrorist Organization) - an highly classified group of assassins who answer directly to SIN (State Intelligence Network) - Rey is given the nickname Sphinx before being trained in both martial arts and the latest in high tech government weaponry. Subsequently setting out into the field to defend American interests both at home and abroad, Sphinx quickly establishes himself as one of the most proficient killers the government has ever seen. Normally when such high-profile assassins fail to complete a mission they are instantly disposed of, yet despite the fact that Sphinx has failed to eliminate his most recent target, his fierce reputation earns him a highly valued second shot at life. Recognizing that the seasoned killer could still be of valuable service to his country, Sphinx's controller Janus sends the top assassin to a clandestine rehabilitation island known as Gulag 7. There, Sphinx will engage in a life or death battle against five other government operatives who have committed similar transgressions. Should Sphinx refuse, he will be executed on the spot; should he emerge victorious, Sphinx will survive to kill another day. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi more

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.

Evil Aliens

50% 52%

Emily Booth, Christopher Adamson,

Synopsis: A tabloid television news magazine host and her ramshackle crew have a gruesome close encounter when they set out to investigate an alien abduction in director Jake West's no-holds-barred splatstick comedy. Cat (Jennifer Evans) and her boyfriend were copulating in a moonlit graveyard when they were abducted by a malevolent gang of extraterrestrials and forced to endure a most unseemly series of highly-intrusive medical tests. Though Cat would eventually find her way back to terra firma, something strange seems to be growing inside of her and the man she was with that night has never been heard from again. When exploitive "Weird Worlde" hostess Michelle Fox (Emily Booth) catches wind of the Cat's story, she sees it as the perfect opportunity to resuscitate her failing ratings and get her show back in the spotlight. With keen-eyed cameraman Ricky (Sam Butler), stoned-out sound guy Jack (Peter McNeil O'Connor", spotty-skinned ufologist Gavin (Jamie Honeybourne) and reenactment actors Candy (Jodie Shaw) and Bruce (Nick Smithers) in tow, the determined television host sets out for the Welsh peninsula where the abduction took place to get the scoop and make a buck. Upon arriving at their remote destination, the crew quickly discovers that Cat, who lives in a decrepit farmhouse with her three inbred brothers, is in an advanced state of pregnancy despite only having been inseminated by the attacking extraterrestrials just days ago. It's not long before the murderous aliens show up at the farmhouse seeking to see what kind of progress their interspecies offspring has made, and as the terrified humans stage a last stand against the interstellar invaders the stage is set for a man-versus-alien bloodbath that threatens to soak the stars in gore. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi more

R, 1 hr. 29 min.

She

54%

Randolph Scott, Helen Gahagan,

Synopsis: Randolph Scott, whom Cooper borrowed from Paramount, plays Leo Vincey, an explorer searching for the "flame of life," a radioactive element hidden in the Arctic parts of Manchuria which, according to Vincey family lore, can bestow eternal life. Setting out on the fearful journey along with British scientist Horace Holly (Nigel Bruce), Vincey is soon joined by Dugmore (Lumsden Hare), a brutish trader, and his daughter Tanya (Helen Mack). In the mountains north of the legendary civilization of Kor, where the "flame of life" is said to be located, Dugmore stumbles over a frozen corpse laden with gold. Greedily hacking away at the corpse, the trader causes an avalanche that kills him and seals off Vincey, Holly, and Tanya from the expedition. The avalanche, however, also exposes a volcanic cave where the trio is taken into custody by Billali (Gustav Von Seyffertitz), Prime Minister of Kor, who brings them before the almighty ruler She, Hash-A-Mo-Tep (She, Who Must be Obeyed). The mysterious female potentate mistakes Vincey for his ancestor John Vincey, for whose return she has been waiting for 500 years. Completely under the spell of this beautiful but ancient monarch, Vincey demands that Holly and Tanya leave without him. But when She discovers Tanya's true feelings for Vincey, the merciless ruler orders the girl to be used as human sacrifice. Tanya is about to be dropped into the Holy Well when Vincey finally comes to his senses. With Holly and a rescued Tanya in tow, he escapes across a dangerous precipice -- right into She's sacred temple -- where a final, climactic confrontation between explorer and ruler takes place. Created by the makers of King Kong (1933) -- producer Merian C. Cooper and screenwriter Ruth Rose -- She, from H. Rider Haggard's 1886 novel, proved a disaster at the box office, losing a total of $180,000 according to some reports. Much of the blame was placed, unfairly perhaps, at the feet of Broadway actress Helen Gahagan, who made her screen debut in the film's all-important title role. Filmed at least four times in the silent era (including a 1925 British production starring American femme fatale Betty Blythe), She was remade twice by low-budget Hammer Films, in 1965 starring Ursula Andress and as The Vengeance of She in 1967. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 35 min.

Air Force

88% 70%

John Garfield, Gig Young,

Synopsis: On December 6, 1941, a squadron of nine B-17 bombers takes off for Hickam Field, HI. The crew of the Mary Ann, including two new men, assistant radio man Private Chester (Ray Montgomery) and gunner Sergeant Joe Winocki (John Garfield), assembles for the flight, and in the first 20 minutes, the movie reveals certain things about the crew: the shadowy past of one, the mother of another, and the wife of a third; two of them are good friends with the sister of McMartin (Arthur Kennedy), the bombardier, who lives in Honolulu; the son of the senior member of the crew, Sgt. White (Harry Carey Sr.), is a pilot stationed at Clark Field in the Philippines. Then more characters make entrances: the aircraft commander Quincannon (John Ridgely); Weinberg (George Tobias), a Jewish mechanic from New York; and a man from a farm in the upper Midwest -- they all represent a broad cross-section of America as it saw itself, and the "regular guys" in the Army Air Force as it existed in 1941. The flight proceeds without incident. Winocki, an embittered, washed-out flight school candidate who accidentally killed another pilot, is about to leave the service when the weather report from Hickam Field is interrupted, and the radio man begins picking up transmissions in Japanese. The Mary Ann and the rest of the squadron fly right into the middle of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor unarmed and out of gas, and nearly crack up landing on an emergency field; no sooner do they make repairs than the crew comes under attack, and the plane takes off and makes for Hickam Field, which they find a flaming shambles. They fly on to the Philippines, stopping at Wake Island just long enough to meet a few members of the doomed Marine garrison, taking their company mascot, a dog, with them. At Clark Field, the Mary Ann and her crew finally go into action against the enemy, flying in alone against a Japanese invasion force; Quincannon is mortally wounded in the brief action, which leaves the plane damaged seemingly beyond repair. The remaining crew won't give up the plane, however, even when ordered to abandon and destroy her; they get the bomber off just ahead of the advancing Japanese, and survive to help bring retribution to the invading fleet and the Japanese empire. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi more

Unrated, 2 hr. 4 min.

The King Maker

8%

Gary Stretch, John Rhys-Davies,

Synopsis: Sold into slavery by Ayuttayan Arabs during his quest to find the man who murdered his father, a vengeful Portuguese mercenary becomes entangled in a royal conspiracy that threatens to send an entire kingdom spiraling into war. When Fernando De Gama (Gary Stretch)'s was just a young boy, his father was slain by a stealthy assassin. Now Fernando has grown into a feared mercenary, and he has set his sights on the Orient in an effort to seek out his father's killer. After the ship he is sailing on capsizes and Fernando washes ashore on a tropical island, he is captured by Arabs, transported to the Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya, and sold into slavery. Despite the grim turn in his quest, fate seems to smile upon Fernando when the ravishing Maria purchases him from the Arabs and subsequently restores his freedom. Soon after falling in love with his kindly rescuer, Fernando discovers that her disapproving father is actually the man he has been searching for all along. When a Northern renegade pretender summons the wrath of the King of Siam and the nation is plunged into war, Fernando is reluctantly pressed into military service. If there's one thing Fernando knows it's warfare, and after gaining favor with the king for his impressive display on the battlefield Fernando is eventually recruited into the royal guard. Trouble is brewing in the royal palace, however, and when Fernando discovers a plot by the queen to murder her husband and win her lover a seat on the royal throne he vows to stop the diabolical plot before an entire nation is plunged into chaos. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi more

R, 1 hr. 32 min.

Gigantis the Fire Monster (Godzilla Raids Again)(Gojira's Counterattack)(The Volcano Monster)

38%

Hiroshi Koizumi, Minoru Chiaki,

Synopsis: Tsukioka (Hiroshi Koizumi) and Kobayashi (Minoru Chiaki) fly scout planes for a small fishing fleet, based in Osaka. A mechanical problem forces Kobayashi to set his plane down on remote Iwato island, and as he and Tsukioka are trying to make repairs, they are drawn to the sound of a horrendous conflagration and discover two enormous dinosaurs battling each other amid the snowy wastes of the island. After successfully taking off, they report their findings to the government in Tokyo, and Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura) determines that one of the dinosaurs is the same species as Godzilla, and both creatures are just as dangerous as the first Godzilla. The two dinosaurs' battle and chase carries them across the ocean and to Osaka, where they destroy the city, and in the process, Anguirus is killed and incinerated by Godzilla, who escapes out to the sea. Tsukioka and Kobayashi are later flying a patrol when they spot Godzilla on a frozen island. Kobayashi's plane is hit by the monster's incendiary breath and he is killed, and as his plane crashes, a small amount of ice rains down on the creature. Tsukioka gets an idea from his friend's death and directs the military aircraft to fire their missiles -- which have proved ineffective when used directly against Godzilla -- at the icy slopes. Godzilla is soon overwhelmed and buried by the ever-rising cascade of ice, and the dinosaur is frozen solid and immobile in the center of the glacier-size sheet of ice. Motoyoshi Oda's Gojira No Gyakushu (aka Godzilla Raids Again, 1955), issued in Japan six months after the original Gojira and released in America redubbed as Gigantis the Fire Monster four years later, was about as different from its predecessor, Ishiro Honda's Gojira (1954), as could possibly be imagined. Where Honda's film, from a screenplay co-authored by Takeo Murata and the director (based on a story by Shigeru Kayama), found a good balance and linkage between the larger story of the monster's appearance and attacks and the human side of the story, Oda's movie never finds that balance. It offers far too disjointed a plot, involving a pair of pilots, the women they love, the sighting of a second Godzilla and the giant ankylosaurus Anguirus, and their city-destroying battle in Osaka, and even the escape of a group of prisoners. The presence of Takashi Shimura in the Japanese edition of the movie, very briefly reprising his role as Dr. Yamane, only serves to highlight the difference in quality between the two movies and the decided creative poverty of the second film. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi more

Unrated, 1 hr. 18 min.

Charge of the Light Brigade

83% 60%

Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland,

Synopsis: Of the many film versions of Alfred Lord Tennyson's narrative poem, 1936's Charge of the Light Brigade has the least relationship to the facts concerning the famous 19th century British military blunder in the Crimea. Reflecting the popularity of 1935's Lives of A Bengal Lancer, the film uses the climactic charge as the culmination of events which begin in British India. Errol Flynn and Patric Knowles are cast as cavalry officers who are also brothers; both love Olivia De Havilland, but it is Knowles who wins out (this should tip us off that the rest of the film is pure fantasy). Indian potentate C. Henry Gordon, angered that the British government has cut off his subsidy, stages a revolt against the English settlements. Ordered on maneuvers, Flynn is unable to bring rescue troops to the besieged fort commanded by De Havilland's father. Gordon supervises the slaughter of every man, woman and child at the fort, then leaves India in the company of his Russian advisors. Flynn and his fellow Light Brigade lancers are then transferred to the Crimea--where, as luck would have it, Gordon is now ensconced with the Russians. Thirsting for revenge, Flynn falsifies an official order so that he and the Light Brigade can battle Gordon and his allies at Balaclava (thus are Britons Lord Cardigan and Lord Ragan, the actual instigators of the doomed charge, exonerated). As passages from the Tennyson poem are superimposed on the action, Flynn leads a suicidal charge against the Russians; he manages to kill the treacherous Gordon before being slain himself. Its dozens of historical inaccuracies aside, The Charge of the Light Brigade is rousing entertainment. Animal lovers be warned, however: several horses were killed during the climactic charge, a fact that compelled Hollywood (under the auspices of the ASPCA) to install safer and more stringent standards concerning the treatment of animals. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi more

Unrated, 1 hr. 56 min.

Flight of Fury

24%

Steven Seagal, Steve Toussaint,

Synopsis: A United States Air Force special ops agent betrayed by his own agency is forced back into active duty when a top secret stealth bomber is hijacked by a dangerous terrorist group in this action-packed tale of international intrigue starring Steven Seagal. John Sands (Seagal) is the kind of soldier that the military turns to when they need a man who can execute clandestine missions that are too sensitive for standard intelligence services. Now, despite the fact that Sands has continually risked his life in service to his country, the Agency begins to view him as a liability due to his sensitive knowledge he has gained during his many exploits. After being detained by the Agency and scheduled for a chemical procedure in which his entire memory will be erased, Sands escapes the top secret detention center and attempts to reintegrate himself into society. Sands' plan is soon foiled, however, when he defends himself during a liquor store robbery and is subsequently arrested by the local police. As a result of his arrest Sands is quickly located by the Agency, who present him with an opportunity to win his freedom back by locating a highly classified stealth bomber equipped with the latest cloaking technology. It seems that the powerful new weapon has fallen into the hands of violent terrorists who could prove to be a formidable threat to world peace. If Sands can find the jet and bring it safely back to the United States Air Force, the Agency will finally allow him to walk away a free man. more

R, 1 hr. 34 min.

Infernal Affairs II

75% 83%

Shawn Yue, Edison Chen,

Synopsis: The prequel to Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's smash hit Infernal Affairs opens in 1991, with Inspector Wong (Anthony Wong) explaining the frustrations of police work to gangster Sam (Eric Tsang). He also expresses his desire to see the seemingly reasonable Sam take over he reins of the local triad from the current boss. When that boss is murdered, with no apparent heir, it seems that Hong Kong is going to explode in an all-out gang war. But the boss' bespectacled, soft-spoken, and well-mannered son, Hau (Francis Ng), unexpectedly takes charge, calmly and cleverly defusing the situation. Meanwhile, Yan (Shawn Yu, reprising his role as the younger version of Tony Leung's character in the first Infernal Affairs) is thrown out of the police academy for breaking the rules, and it's discovered that he's Hau's half-brother. Wong recruits him to work undercover in Hau's organization. Ming (Edison Chen playing the younger Andy Lau) is a corrupt cop secretly working for Sam. His progress up the ranks of the police force is swift, but his relationship with Sam is threatened when he finds himself falling in love with Sam's girlfriend, Mary (Carina Lau). For his part, as the handover of Hong Kong to China approaches, Hau plots to become involved in "legitimate" politics, and to avenge himself against those he believes responsible for his father's death. Chapman To reprises his role as the goofy Keung. Infernal Affairs II was selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center for inclusion in the 2004 New York Film Festival. more

PG-13, 1 hr. 49 min.

San cha kou (Divergence)

46%

Aaron Kwok, Daniel Wu,

Synopsis: A top celebrity cop finds his ability to solve a series of kidnappings and white collar crimes sidelined by the grief he harbors for his long-missing girlfriend in this dramatic Hong Kong action entry from director Benny Chan. Ever since Suen Sui-yan (Aaron Kwok)'s girlfriend went missing without a trace ten years ago, everything just seemed to fall apart for the high profile policeman who could once do no wrong. These days Suen is investigating a lucrative money laundering scheme, but upon being assigned the task of escorting a crooked accountant named Hung (Patrick Chow) to the Hong Kong airport, his luck takes an even darker turn when an assassin's bullet kills his unfortunate charge. Suen's suspicions that something is amiss are soon confirmed when a barrister acting on behalf of powerful businessman Yiu (Lo Ka-leung) denies that his client played any part in the killing and Yiu's assets are freed-up since the potential police witness has been permanently silenced, and before long the suspicious suit is struggling to pay off a sizable debt to the triads. Soon after triad boss Jim (Lau Siu-ming) admits to a fondness for Yiu's pop-star son Yiu Ha (Tommy Yuen), the adolescent singing sensation is suddenly kidnapped. Now, as Suen struggles to make a connection between all the events and reveal the identity of the mysterious assassin, the resemblance between Barrister To (Ekin Chang)'s beautiful wife Amy (Angelica Lee) and Suen's own long-missing girlfriend fast begins to cloud the determined cop's head and complicate the case. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi more

R, 1 hr. 39 min.

Sinners in Paradise

John Boles, Madge Evans,

Synopsis: At one time Universal's "prestige" director, James Whale had slipped off the A-list by the end of the 1930s; even so, his films remained both intriguing and entertaining. In Whale's Sinners in Paradise, an airplane bound for China cracks up during a storm and crash-lands on an uncharted South Sea island. All of the passengers, including nurse Anne Wesson (Madge Evans), fugitive criminal Robert Malone (Bruce Cabot), blonde strumpet Iris Compton (Marion Martin), crooked former senator Corey (Gene Lockhart), "radical" heiress Thelma Chase (Charlotte Wynters), munitions salesmen Honeyman (Milburn Stone) and Brand (Morgan Conway), and traveler Mrs. Sydney (Nana Bryant), survive unscathed. Forced to fend for themselves, the marooned passengers are helped along by resident beachcomber Jim Taylor (John Boles) and his servant Ping (Willie Fung). Taylor is staying on that island, hundreds of miles from the shipping lanes, for his own reasons, and won't use his boat to return the castaways to civilization -- a decision that doesn't sit well with the most mercenary members of the group, but interests Anne who, in addition to her desire to help in China, is running away from a loveless marriage. Jim is hiding from something a lot less romantic, that could threaten whatever future they might see for themselves. A remake of a silent film of the same name, Sinners in Paradise was extensively re-edited before its general release, just as Whale's previous The Road Back had been. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 4 min.

Chat gim (The Seven Swords)

25% 55%

Donnie Yen, Leon Lai,

Synopsis: Tsui Hark (The Blade) adapted his massive martial arts epic Seven Swords (AKA Qi Jian) from Liang yu-Sheng's popular novel Seven Swordsmen from Mount Tian. The story opens in the 1660s, following the implementation of China's (Manchu) Qing dynasty. To quell possible nationalist uprisings, the emperor issues a decree forbidding the use of martial arts, and guarantees decapitation for anyone who violates that order. A class of bounty hunters quickly formed to enforce the law and collect 600 pieces of silver for each violator; the most massive and domineering of the warriors is the bald, muscular Fire-Wind (Sun Honglei), a bellicose and volatile creature who lives in an elephantine tentlike dwelling on a hill. This walking terror selects Martial Village, a hamlet in northwestern China, as his next assignment. Meanwhile, in Martial, two young adults, Wu Yuanyin (Charlie Young) and her ex-beau, Han Zhibang) rescue an old executioner, Fu Qingzhu (Lau Kar-leung) who foresees the coming wrath and acknowledges the necessity of pulling in the mythical 'Warriors of Mt. Tian' to fight Fire-Wind and his cronies. The four warriors summoned by Fu include Chu Zhaonan (Donnie Yen), and Yang Yunchong (Leon Lai), who dramatically increase the tension and bloodshed when the former develops a crush on one of Fire-wind's hostages, Green Pearl (Kim So-yeon) and decides to kidnap her - sending Fire-wind through the roof. The critically-worshipped Hark reportedly cut two versions of this film (including a 2 1/2 hour cut and a 3-hour cut) and demonstrated incredible confidence in Qi Jian by planning it as the initial installment in a massive series of multimedia sequels, including a 74-part television series, an online video game, comics, and five additional films. The picture itself testifies to this, with the setup for a sophomore installment in its conclusion. Qi Jian, however, did lackluster box office when it opened in the Far East in July 2005, making the follow-ups less than certain. more

R, 2 hr. 31 min.

Don

79%

Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra,

Synopsis: An Indian narcotics officer concocts an ingenious plan to capture a notorious drug lord, only to discover too little too late just how wrong even the most well-executed plan can go in this Bollywood action thriller from director Farhan Akhtar. As drug trafficking between Asia and Europe rockets to an all-time high, DCP DeSilva vows to bring one of the world's most notorious drug cartels to justice no matter what the cost. Though many believe the powerful operation to be run by the dreaded Singhania, it is actually trusted lieutenant Don who is pulling the strings from behind the scenes. DCP DeSilva knows well that the ruthless and power-mad Don is the true mastermind behind the actions of the cartel, and upon capturing the elusive drug trafficker he sets into motion a complicated plan designed to bring down the elaborately conceived operation once and for all. DeSilva's secret weapon is a man named Vijay. Not only is Vijay the spitting image of Don, but he has studied Don's mannerisms extensively and now possesses the skills needed to infiltrate the group and deceive even the sharp-eyed Singhania. Trouble arises, however, when DeSilva is unexpectedly killed during a raid on the cartel and the only people Vijay can turn to for help are woman who has infiltrated the gang to avenge the death of her brother, and the man who once entrusted Vijay with his son and now owes the frantic undercover cop a sizable favor. But now the ruse has been revealed, and with the police closing in on one side and the vengeful gangsters gaining ground on the other, time is quickly running out for the hunted undercover cop without an identity. more

Unrated, 2 hr. 49 min.

Superman II

90% 83%

Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman,

Synopsis: Reconstructed using archival film and sound elements long thought to be extinct, this special cut of Superman II pieces together unseen footage shot by Richard Donner in order to present the most comprehensive version of what was to be the original cut of the blockbuster sequel. As initially planned, the first two films were to be filmed back-to-back using the same sets and actors to save on production costs. However, with a budget escalating out of control and Warner Bros. breathing down the producers' necks, the decision was made to drop any further filming on the sequel in order to finish the first movie and usher it into theaters. Of course, the first Superman was a wild success, so then it was just a matter of ramping up production again, though this time, Donner was not asked back. Instead, producers went with Richard Lester, who had served them well with his Three Musketeers films. Decisions were made to drop most of the key scenes that were already in the can, including all of the footage featuring Marlon Brando as Jor-El, the Man of Steel's father. After completion, the sequel found much success in theatrical and home-video box-office returns, though that didn't stop die-hard fans from speculating what Donner's cut would have looked like. Once the Internet was spawned, Warner Bros. saw interest grow more and more for this alternate version, even prompting the company to send cease and desist letters to individuals who had posted a re-edit of the film using deleted footage taken from an alternate TV version from the U.K. With the release of Superman Returns, the company saw this as a chance to finally deliver what people had wanted for years and enlisted Michael Thau to oversee the restoration process. Under the tutelage of Donner's notes, scripts, storyboards, and the director himself, the new version was delivered to home audiences in 2006, thereby not only giving people a look into what could have been, but giving a director an unprecedented chance to realize a vision long thought lost in the annals of movie history. more

PG, 1 hr. 56 min.

Police Story (Ging chaat goo si) (Police Force)

83% 88%

Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung,

Synopsis: This was internationally famous Jackie Chan's breakthrough action film, the work that got him past the ethnic boundaries of Hong Kong and into competition at the New York Film Festival in 1986. It also got him into the hospital after performing a stunt in which he fell through a glass canopy -- and stopped breathing. The story itself is not particularly profound. Kevin (Ga-kui) (Chan) is an honest, self-effacing cop who manages to capture drug lord Cho (Cho Leung) almost single-handedly. A reluctant Kevin is then assigned the job of protecting Cho's secretary Selena (Brigitte Lin) who is going to testify against him. Sure enough, the trial date comes, and Selena disappears, while Cho has to be set free for lack of evidence. The next thing he knows, Kevin is framed by Cho for the murder of a fellow (dirty) cop and is running like heck from the bad guys as well as the police. Some incredible stunts in this film include Chan being dragged behind a double-decker bus. One of Jackie Chan's trademarks are hilarious outtakes shown during the end credits, and they are among the best here. This feature is repeated to great advantage at the end of his 1998 hit Rush Hour as well. Police Story picked up "Best Picture" and "Best Action Choreography" at the 1986 Hong Kong Film Festival and was nominated for several other awards that year. Sequel after sequel followed. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi more

PG-13, 1 hr. 30 min.

Mutiny on the Bounty

71% 72%

Marlon Brando, Trevor Howard,

Synopsis: This colorful remake of the 1935 version again concerns the crew and treatment of the HMS Bounty by a cold hearted sadistic captain. Captain Bligh (Trevor Howard) boards the ship in Portsmouth, England, to embark on a mission to bring tropical breadfruit trees to Jamaica. Fletcher Christian (Marlon Brando) is the aristocratic second mate who welcomes the new captain aboard. Christian's view of the captain sours with the cruel treatment of the crew and the dangerous decision to round Cape Horn. The Bounty sails into the teeth of a ferocious winter storm which is another in a long line of indignities suffered on the journey. John Mills (Richard Harris) is punished for stealing cheese. A sailor is ordered to stay aloft in the crow's nest, nearly resulting in death. The crew finds temporary paradise in Tahiti before Bligh's behavior becomes intolerable for the once faithful Christian. The crew revolts and sends the captain on his way in a small rowboat. Settling on Pitcairn Island, the crew soon realizes they may never see England again. Mills burns the ship to insure the trip is never made. Christian attempts to save the only means of transportation of their new island home. Lewis Milestone directed the film which was plagued by constant cost overruns to the tune of 18 million dollars. Brando's legendary ego clashed with results as turbulent as the fictitious trip around stormy Cape Horn. The movie retained slightly over half the cost of the production price tag in its initial release. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi more

Unrated, 2 hr. 59 min.

How the West Was Won

100% 74%

Carroll Baker, Henry Fonda,

Synopsis: Filmed in panoramic Cinerama, this star-studded, epic Western adventure is a true cinematic classic. Three legendary directors (Henry Hathaway, John Ford, and George Marshall) combine their skills to tell the story of three families and their travels from the Erie Canal to California between 1839 and 1889. Spencer Tracy narrates the film, which cost an estimated 15 million dollars to complete. In the first segment, "The Rivers," pioneer Zebulon Prescott (Karl Malden) sets out to settle in the West with his wife (Agnes Moorehead) and their four children. Along with other settlers and river pirates, they run into mountain man Linus Rawlings (James Stewart), who sells animal hides. The Prescotts try to raft down the Ohio River in a raft, but only daughters Lilith (Debbie Reynolds) and Eve (Carroll Baker) survive. Eve and Linus get married, while Lilith continues on. In the second segment, "The Plains," Lilith ends up singing in a saloon in St. Louis, but she really wants to head west in a wagon train led by Roger Morgan (Robert Preston). Along the way, she's accompanied by the roguish gambler Cleve Van Valen (Gregory Peck), who claims he can protect her. After he saves her life during an Indian attack, they get married and move to San Francisco. In the third segment, "The Civil War," Eve and Linus' son, Zeb (George Peppard), fights for the Union. After he's forced to kill his Confederate friend, he returns home and gives the family farm to his brother. In the fourth segment, "The Railroads," Zeb fights with his railroad boss (Richard Widmark), who wants to cut straight through Indian territory. Zeb's co-worker Jethro (Henry Fonda) refuses to cut through the land, so he quits and moves to the mountains. After the railway camp is destroyed, Zeb heads for the mountains to visit him. In the fifth segment, "The Outlaws," Lilith is an old widow traveling from California to Arizona to stay with her nephew Zeb on his ranch. However, he has to fight a gang of desperadoes first. How the West Was Won garnered three Oscars, for screenplay, film editing, and sound production. more

G, 3 hr.

The Curse of King Tut's Tomb

28%

Casper Van Dien, Jonathan Hyde,

Synopsis: Discover the centuries-old secrets of King Tutankhamen as two archaeologists race to recover the sacred object with the power to save the world, or destroy it, in this globe-trotting adventure starring Casper Van Dien, Jonathan Hyde, and Leonor Varela, and directed by action veteran Russell Mulcahy (Highlander). The year is 1922, and Danny Freemont (Van Dien) is an archeologist whose outlandish theories about the pyramids, Atlantis, and the Egyptian Book of the Dead have made him something of an outcast in the scientific community. Perhaps no one is more critical of Freemont's unconventional approach to archeology than Dr. Azelia Barakat (Varela), a serious-minded Egyptologist who scoffs at her free-spirited colleague's ideas about King Tutankhamen's mythical tomb. When Freemont determines that the Emerald Tablet rumored to be buried with the Egyptian king will provide its owner with the power to rule the world, Dr. Barakat's curiosity soon trumps her skepticism and the pair quickly set up a team of experts to locate the tomb and find the tablet. Despite Freemont and Dr. Barakat's noble intentions, their efforts to locate and protect the Emerald Tablet threaten to backfire as nefarious archeologist Morgan Sinclair (Hyde) tracks their every move in hopes of beating them to the prize and using the treasure to unleash the ultimate evil. Now, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the race to uncover one of history's greatest mysteries is on, and it's going to be a wild ride. more

Unrated, 2 hr. 50 min.

Track of the Cat

48%

Robert Mitchum, Teresa Wright,

Synopsis: Moody and symbolic, this western is best remembered for William H. Clothier's innovative realization of director William Wellman's goal to create a black and white film in color. To accomplish this, the entire production was designed in shades of black and white (including the horses) and then photographed in color. The only colorful items are the actors' skin tones, two articles of clothing, the blue sky and the green of a few fir trees. The result is a bleak and claustrophobic ambience that matches the tone of the tale. Set in wintery northern California during the 1880s, the story chronicles the effects of prolonged hardship and close confinement on a pioneer family. Trapped by unusually heavy snows, the Bridges household seethes with tension, largely due to the domineering ways of the family's insanely religious and opinionated mother (Beulah Bondi). Her weak-willed husband (Philip Tonge) becomes an alcoholic. Daughter Grace (Teresa Wright) is angry that her mother has condemned her to spinsterhood. Her three sons Harold, Curt and Arthur (Tab Hunter, Robert Mitchum and William Hopper) also have problems. Arthur is the sensitive one while love-struck Harold only wants to marry a pretty neighbor girl. Curt is arrogant and aspires to run the family himself; he also wants Harold's girl for himself. The presence of the mysterious black panther (which is only a symbolic presence) that has been feasting upon the family's cattle forces the young men to face the darkest aspects of their nature and to take their first steps into manhood. Unfortunately, only one of the three brothers survives the ordeal. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 43 min.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

37%

Michael Caine, Patrick Dempsey,

Synopsis: The second of two network-TV adaptations of Jules Verne's speculative 1868 novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, this two-part ABC version originally aired on May 11 and 12, 1997, some two months after CBS's shorter -- and infinitely more faithful -- version. The year is 1886, and an unknown "creature" is terrorizing the high seas, causing merchant vessels to vanish without a trace. Enlisted by the U.S. government to find out what's really going on, oceanographer Pierre Arronax (Patrick Dempsey) and rough-hewn whaler Ned Land (Bryan Brown) set sail for uncharted waters. Ultimately, they are captured by the insane but honorably motivated Captain Nemo (Michael Caine), the inventor of the high-teach submarine Nautilus . This much can be found in the original novel. The rest of the film has less to do with Jules Verne than its does with the popularity of such theatrical features as Star Wars and Titanic, not to mention the then-prevalent specter of political correctness. Because he wants nothing more out of life than to slaughter whales, Verne's nominal hero Ned Land is transformed into the main villain -- while Pierre Arronax comes off none too sympathetically himself, depicted in an early scene as a wanton womanizer who sleeps with his own father's mistress. Also, a bit of gratuitous romance is thrown into the proceedings, with Captain Nemo suddenly acquiring a daughter, and another woman joining the storyline when the Nautilus makes a side trip to the lost city of Atlantis. Finally, what with Verne's good guys turning bad and Captain Nemo clearly certifiable, a new "hero" is introduced in the form of African-American crewman Cabe Attucks (Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje). Oh, and did we mention that Nemo is actually a half-cyborg and a former Indian prince? This "new and improved" 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is only slightly less ridiculous than the 1916 silent film version, which also managed to add a love interest and a spectacular "flashback" sequence straight out of 1001 Arabian Nights. more

PG, 2 hr. 58 min.

Payback: Straight Up

70%

Mel Gibson, Gregg Henry,

Synopsis: Seven years after seeing his original vision butchered under studio interference as well as his star's, director Brian Helgeland finally was given the chance to piece together his director's cut under the name Payback: Straight Up. Along with reinstating the original third act, this version represents a return to the gritty world of '70s filmmaking that was the groundwork of the production up until Paramount got cold feet and ordered extensive reshoots. The story centers on Porter (Mel Gibson), a thief that is pulled into a heist by his old friend, Val (Brian De Palma regular Gregg Henry), who plans a double cross with Porter's wife, Lynn (Deborah Kara Unger) after showing her a photo of her husband in the arms of another girl (Maria Bello). As they're stealing $130,000 in laundered drug money from Chinese Triads, Lynn shoots Porter in the back and speeds away with Val and money in tow. What they didn't know is that Porter would come back looking for his cut, which has been used to pay off Val's mob debts so he could return to "The Syndicate." Helgeland, the screenwriter for L.A. Confidential and Mystic River, made his directing debut with this adaptation of the novel The Hunter by Donald E. Westlake writing under the pseudonym, Richard Stark. The same novel served as the basis for John Boorman's Point Blank starring Lee Marvin. This version excises Kris Kristofferson's performance entirely and features a new score by Scott Stambler. more

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Wong gok hak yau (One Night in Mongkok)

75%

Daniel Wu, Cecilia Cheung,

Synopsis: A deadly car accident threatens to cause a violent gang war on the crowded streets on Hong Kong's Mongkok district in writer/director Derek Yee's thriller One Night in Mongkok. Officer Milo (Alex Fong)'s task force is assigned to the case when a gangster's son is accidentally killed during a drunken dispute with a rival gang. He soon learns that a hitman has been hired to take out the rival gang leader. While Milo and his crew desperately try to find and stop the hired gun, fearing all-out war in the streets, Lai Fu (Daniel Wu), a smart but inexperienced killer from a small town in the mainland, arrives in Hong Kong to do his job. A decent sort, he intercedes when he sees a thug threatening a prostitute at his hotel. She turns out to be Dan Dan (Cecilia Cheung from Running on Karma), from a small town not far from his own. Dan Dan is a very practical young woman, and when she sees the wad of cash Lai Fu is carrying (half of his payment for the job), she pretty much latches onto him. Since she knows her way around town, this turns out to be a help to Lai Fu when he finds out that the contractor who hired him has ratted him out to the cops. As it turns out, Lai Fu isn't really that interested in killing for money, and has an ulterior, more benign motive for his trip into town. But the cops and assorted bad guys are closing in anyway. One Night in Mongkok, winner of the 2004 Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director and Best Screenplay, had its New York premiere at the 2005 New York Asian Film Festival, presented by Subway Cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi more

Unrated, 1 hr. 49 min.

Class of 1984

73% 67%

Perry King, Timothy Van Patten,

Synopsis: A music teacher (Perry King) at a tough Los Angeles high school reaches out to his students with the gift of music -- only to find a gang of sadistic punk rockers is actively dissuading new members from joining the orchestra. Not only are the punkers sadistic; they are also led by the nefarious Timothy Van Patten (sporting Willie Aames-style blow-dried hair). The plot development: Van Patten is a musical prodigy, as he proves by banging out some angry classical tunes on the school Baldwin in front of the teacher's startled class. King tries to befriend the lad, but he rejects the offer with scorn. When King attempts to settle for a truce with the gang leader in order to end his students' harassment, he finds himself targeted for a slowly-escalating campaign of terror, culminating in a deadly game of hide-and-seek in the high school after hours. One by one, King faces the murderous gang; one by one, teenagers die in a succession of increasingly violent fashions as the already-exploitive film degenerates into a Death Wish clone. As a feature film, Class of 1984 seems more like it was made for television. The plot is completely contrived; the characters are unbelievable (especially the punks, who seem to be the sort of punks that exist only in the imaginations of "B"-grade Hollywood film directors), and the production values are poor. Yet Class of 1984 has a certain charm, a certain earnestness that makes it watchable, if unintentionally amusing. The film includes a soundtrack by Alice Cooper which includes the stirring anthem "I Am the Future." Another point of interest: this may be the only film including a scene in which Michael J. Fox is stabbed during a prison-style cafeteria riot. ~ Jeremy Beday, Rovi more

R, 1 hr. 36 min.

Lifeboat

95% 87%

Tallulah Bankhead, John Hodiak,

Synopsis: Seeking a creative challenge after several years' worth of fairly elaborate melodramas, director Alfred Hitchcock stages all of the action in Lifeboat in one tiny boat, adrift in the North Atlantic. The boat holds eight survivors of a Nazi torpedo attack: sophisticated magazine writer/photographer Constance Porter (Tallulah Bankhead), Communist seaman John Kovac (John Hodiak), nurse Alice MacKenzie (Mary Anderson), mild-mannered radio-operator Stan (Hume Cronyn), seriously wounded Brooklynese stoker Gus Smith (William Bendix), insufferable-capitalist Charles Rittenhouse (Henry Hull), black-steward George Spencer (Canada Lee) and half-mad passenger Mrs. Higgins (Heather Angel), who carries the body of her dead baby. This adroitly calculated cross-section of humanity is reduced by one when Mrs. Higgins kills herself. After a day or so of floating aimlessly about, the castaways pick up another passenger, Willy (Walter Slezak), who is a survivor from the German U-boat. At first everyone assumes that Willy cannot speak English, but when the necessity arises he reveals himself to be conversant in several languages and highly intelligent; in fact, he was the U-boat's captain. As the only one on board with any sense of seamanship, Willy steers a course to his mother ship, while the others resign themselves to being prisoners of war. After it becomes necessary to amputate Gus's leg, Willy decides that the burly stoker is excess weight; while the others sleep, he tosses Gus overboard, watching dispassionately as the poor man drowns. When the rest of the passengers discover what he's done, all of them (with one significant exception) violently gang up on Gus, and once more, the lifeboat drifts about sans navigation. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi more

Unrated, 1 hr. 40 min.

Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai

54%

Jackie Shroff, Sushmita Sen,

Synopsis: Is what we dream of what we really want to achieve? Or does it make sense to enjoy the seven colours of the rainbow than aim for that pot of gold at the end of it? Is it right to enjoy the oasis that is there or there no fun in life till you move away from the oasis and travel to a better place, knowing that what you see could be a mirage. Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai is exactly this. We trace the dreams and aspirations of a young man who wants nothing but a handful of sky, and discovers as he travels that the sky is merely the beginning. Inspired by media baron Naved Ali's (Jackie Shroff's) true blue rags to riches story, Suraj (Abhishek Bachchan) aspires to be like him. And herein begins the journey of young Suraj towards his ultimate goal. But at every turn that leads to his goal, Suraj discovers that what he thought and sought as his goal is merely a means and not the goal itself. Suraj finds love in Pooja (Rani Mukherji), understanding in Lara (Sushmita Sen), and a driving force in Naved Ali. But in his quest for the ultimate, Suraj loses along the way, the little things that he once had, the little means or the keys to his happiness. And when Suraj ultimately has his illusions fulfilled, he realises that his dreams are now shattered. He realises that now he has everything he wanted, but the price he is paying for it , is too high. "All I want is everything," is what Suraj had thought once, but now that he has it all, does he really want to keep it? This is what Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai is all about. more

Unrated, 2 hr. 48 min.

Major Dundee

97% 67%

Charlton Heston, Richard Harris,

Synopsis: Sam Peckinpah's 1965 feature Major Dundee was recut and rescored for re-release theatrically in 2005, 40 years after its original release. The "Extended Version," as it is known officially, tells essentially the same story as the original but with clearer motivations for the characters (which often seemed vague or obscure in the 1965 edition) and much greater effectiveness. Major Amos Charles Dundee (Charlton Heston) is a West Point graduate who somehow -- it's not clear -- exceeded his orders while serving in the Battle of Gettysburg and, as punishment, has been taken out of combat and put in charge of a Union prison in New Mexico. He then gets word that marauding Apaches under Sierra Charriba (Michael Pate) have raided an American settlement, slaughtering the troops who were pursuing them and kidnapping three young boys, whom they've taken to their lair south of the Rio Grande (and if this sounds a lot like the plot of John Ford's Rio Grande, it's because they used the same story as inspiration). Dundee assumes responsibility for capturing or destroying the raiders and rescuing the captives, but because he has far too few men, he's forced to recruit prisoners, including his one-time friend, Confederate Captain Benjamin Tyreen (Richard Harris), and other "gentlemen of the South," to fill out his ranks. Tyreen and his men despise Dundee, but agree to serve on this mission in exchange for the chance for possible pardon of commutation of sentence (Tyreen and some of his men are facing the rope, for killing a guard in an escape attempt). The mission takes them deep into Mexico, where they free the children but now find themselves being stalked by the very Apaches that they were hunting, as well as having to fight off the French troops stationed there. And as they quickly see, the French troops, though white and supposedly "civilized" like themselves, treat the native Mexicans in ways that make the Apaches look almost saintly. In the end, this ragtag group of soldiers, malcontents, deserters, traitors, and criminals finds a larger cause in their quest -- bigger even than their own survival -- as they discover something uniquely fine and honorable in being an American, and in American ideals. It takes the sacrifice and deaths of many to get to that point, but the movie -- in this version -- gets us there convincingly, if in decidedly grim and bittersweet fashion. Though based on fiction and shot under incredibly (indeed, legendarily) chaotic conditions, the movie ultimately proves to be a rousingly disturbing examination of what it means to be an American, and the meaning of American ideals. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi more

PG-13, 2 hr. 2 min.

Island in the Sky

61%

John Wayne, Lloyd Nolan,

Synopsis: During World War II, a Military Air Transport Command DC-3 piloted by a civilian crew is forced down in northern Labrador. The five men, led by Dooley (John Wayne), have barely any food and almost no way to keep warm, and their power supply is fading fast, but they have to find a way of staying alive until search planes find them. At first, even Dooley is overwhelmed by the responsibility for his crew's safety, and he is too lax in handling them -- but after one man dies, frozen to death just steps from help, he takes over and pushes his men and himself to the limits of their endurance; he even seems ready to crack himself at one moment. Meanwhile, the men who fly with Dooley push themselves and their machines past their endurance limits searching the arctic wastes for the downed plane. Island in the Sky -- based on the book by Ernest K. Gann (perhaps the best aviation novel ever written), which was, in turn, based on a true incident that happened during the war -- is one of the most startling movies in Wayne's output. He doesn't even look like the "star" John Wayne, but like a real pilot, and the cast, made up of familiar faces, all look like the real article; indeed, this movie should have been in the running for Academy Awards for costuming and makeup, just for making these familiar performers, such as Lloyd Nolan (in maybe his best performance) and Andy Devine (ditto), look like real pilots and ordinary men, rather than familiar actors. You end up feeling like you're watching a documentary, and the effect is bracing and unsettling, and dramatically unparalleled in Wayne's entire output. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 49 min.

Song of the Gringo

Tex Ritter, Joan Woodbury,

Synopsis: Written by John P. McCarthy (who also directed), Robert Emmett Tansey, and, rather incongruously, former real-life outlaw Al Jennings, this musical Western marked the screen debut of Tex Ritter, a former Broadway and radio crooner. Ritter played Tex (of course), a lawman going undercover as a bandit in order to infiltrate a gang of claim jumpers. As it turns out, the leader of the gang, Evans (Ted Adams), is using the ranch of Don Esteban del Valle (Martin Garralaga) and his daughter, Dolores (Joan Woodbury), as his headquarters, dragging the innocent rancher into a scheme to take over the local mines by any means possible, including murder. In between his detective work, Ritter finds time to sing such song as "Out on the Lone Prairie," "My Sweet Chiquita," and "You Are Reality," the latter composed by leading lady Joan Woodbury, the wife of actor Henry Wilcoxon. Ritter was discovered for films by Edward F. Finney, the former promotional director for Republic Pictures, who released the Ritter series through newcomer Grand National. Despite the crowd-pleasing presence of comic sidekick Fuzzy Knight and Ritter's horse, White Flash, Song of the Gringo proved an inauspicious opener. According to Ritter himself, Finney had his star outfitted with a hideous-looking toupee; and director John P. McCarthy, a holdover from the silent era, proved an unwise choice as well. Both hairpiece and McCarthy were gone by the second instalment, Headin' for the Rio Grande (1936), replaced by Ritter's natural receeding hairline and Robert North Bradbury, yet another veteran but at least one with an eye for pacing. Ritter, who achieved perhaps his lasting fame singing "Do Not Forsake Me" over the main titles to Fred Zinneman's High Noon (1952), was the father of 1970s television star John Ritter. more

Unrated, 57 min.

Point Blank

97% 85%

Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson,

Synopsis: Based on Donald E. Westlake's novel The Hunter, John Boorman's gangster film hauntingly merges a generic revenge story with a European art cinema sensibility. In Alcatraz to divvy up the spoils from a robbery, thief Walker (Lee Marvin) is instead shot point blank by his double-crossing friend Mal Reese (John Vernon) and left to die while Reese takes off with Walker's wife Lynne (Sharon Acker) and his $93,000. Resurrected, the stone-faced Walker returns to Los Angeles a couple of years later to seek revenge on Mal with the help of the enigmatic Yost (Keenan Wynn) and Lynne's sister Chris (Angie Dickinson). Wanting little but his cash, Walker implacably penetrates Mal's lair and the hierarchy of the shady "Organization," registering no emotion about the string of murders left in his wake, as his thoughts repeatedly return to the past that brought him there. In his first American feature, Boorman transforms a stripped-down revenge plot into a surreal meditation on the gangster's spiritual demise, using flashbacks and startling shifts in setting to interweave Walker's fractured memories with his extraordinarily photographed odyssey through L.A. Marvin's chillingly stoic presence further hints at the ambiguities in Chris's observation that Walker "died at Alcatraz, all right." Brutal in the violence that it shows and suggests, Point Blank opened in the U.S. in the same period as Bonnie and Clyde, becoming one more testament to the genre-bending and ground-breaking possibilities of the nascent Hollywood New Wave. Although Point Blank was mostly overlooked in 1967, Boorman's visual adventurousness, and Marvin's amoral and apathetic antihero, have since made Point Blank seem one of the key films of the mid-late '60s, a precursor to revisionist experimentations from Martin Scorsese to Quentin Tarantino. It was remade as the 1999 Mel Gibson vehicle Payback. more

R, 1 hr. 32 min.

They Came Back

78% 42%

Geraldine Pailhas, Jonathan Zaccaï,

Synopsis: The recently dead return to life in They Came Back, but they are surprisingly uninterested in feasting on the living. Many of them are, naturally enough, elderly, and they seem content merely to go back to their former lives, but their return causes a myriad of complications. Robin Campillo, making his feature directorial debut, co-wrote the script to Laurent Cantet's Time Out, and his "zombie" movie quietly examines the individual and societal impact the dead have on the small French city -- just one of many similarly afflicted throughout the world -- to which they return. Isham (Djemel Barek) and Véronique (Marie Matheron) have their trepidations, but they're generally happy, at first, to see their little boy Sylvain (Saady Delas), and the town's elderly mayor (Victor Garrivier) welcomes home his wife, Martha (Catherine Samie). But Rachel (Géraldine Pailhas of 5x2), a government health official, cannot bring herself to visit her newly returned husband, Mathieu (Jonathan Zaccaï of Seaside), at the ad-hoc shelter where the government houses the "zombies" like refugees. Eventually, she relents, and Mathieu returns home, but the living find that their loved ones are not exactly as they remember them. Studies soon reveal that the dead suffer from a form of aphasia. They cannot create new memories, and they cannot be trusted to perform any but the most menial tasks. Perhaps sensing the discomfort they cause the living, the dead gather together at night, and seem to be formulating some kind of secret plan. They Came Back was selected by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center for inclusion in the 2005 edition of New Directors/New Films. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 42 min.

The Getaway

85% 82%

Steve McQueen, Ali MacGraw,

Synopsis: In Sam Peckinpah's version of Walter Hill's script, from Jim Thompson's novel, an ex-con and his wife go on the lam after a Texas bank heist. Denied parole after four well-behaved years, Doc McCoy (Steve McQueen) sends his wife Carol (Ali MacGraw) to dirty politician Jack Benyon (Ben Johnson) to get him out of prison. Carol secures Doc's freedom, on the condition that he does one more bank job for Benyon. Doc and his accomplices Rudy (Al Lettieri) and Jackson (Bo Hopkins) get the cash, but Doc soon discovers how Rudy intends to keep it all for himself and how Carol convinced Benyon to get him sprung. While Rudy hijacks a veterinarian and his wife (Sally Struthers) to take him to get Doc in El Paso, Doc and Carol make their own embattled way south with the money, threatening to desert each other before reaching a trash dump rapprochement after a harrowing garbage truck episode. All sides converge in El Paso for a shootout, but trust a happily married old-timer (Slim Pickens) to help Doc and Carol have a future. With violence shot in his trademark balletic style, Peckinpah does not hide the damage that Doc can do, whether to a cop car or an enemy. Still, as in such other morally relative outlaw movies as Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Peckinpah's western The Wild Bunch (1969), Doc may be a criminal and killer when necessary, but his and Carol's loyalty to each other elevates them above their crooked milieu. With its non-traditional traditional couple played by the then hot (and notoriously adulterous) stars McQueen and MacGraw, The Getaway was a substantial hit. It was lackadaisically remade with Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger in 1994. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi more

R, 2 hr. 2 min.

Tony Rome

62%

Frank Sinatra, Jill St. John,

Synopsis: Frank Sinatra brings a sneering Rat Pack ethos to his first hard-boiled detective role in Tony Rome. Tony is an ex-cop who lives on a houseboat off Miami, accepting fees for private-eye work. His former partner, Ralph Turpin (Robert J. Wilke), asks Tony for help in locating Diana Pines (Sue Lyon), the daughter of rich construction magnate Rudolph Kosterman (Simon Oakland). Tony finds her unconscious and drunk in a sleazy motel room and returns her to her home. Rudolph decides to hire Tony in order to find out why his daughter is behaving so erratically. In the meantime, Diana's stepmother, Rita (Gena Rowlands), also offers Tony money to inform her first about whatever Tony finds out. He discovers that Diana has lost an expensive diamond pin, but before he can act upon the information, he is beaten up by two goons and nearly killed by Diana's crazy step-uncle. Tony then finds out that Turpin has been murdered. With help from sultry and sexy divorcée Ann Archer (Jill St. John), Tony discovers that Diana has been funneling large sums of money to her alcoholic mother, Lorna (Jeanne Cooper), with Rita's priceless jewelry being replaced by fakes. A collection of disagreeable human sludge all take their turns trying to get Tony and the information that he holds -- including his old pal Lieutenant Santini (Richard Conte). After a murder attempt on Rudolph's life, Tony uncovers a series of vile connections involving blackmail, deceit, and betrayal. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi more

Unrated, 1 hr. 50 min.

In Search of the Castaways

66%

Maurice Chevalier, Hayley Mills,

Synopsis: This adventure fantasy begins when French scientist Jacques Paganel (Maurice Chevalier) finds a message in a bottle washed up on a beach. The contents of the letter reveal the whereabouts of Captain Grant, who has been missing for the last two years. The Professor contacts the Captain's two children Mary (Hayley Mills) and Robert (Keith Hamshere) with news of the discovery. The trio convince wealthy nobleman Lord Glenarvon (Wilfrid Hyde White) and his son John to embark on the rescue mission. They travel to South America, Australia and New Zealand in search of the missing mariner. Dangers from jaguars, a giant condor, and crocodiles interfere along with such natural disasters as a flood, an earthquake, a waterspout, an avalanche, and an erupting volcano. The group advertises for a guide, and former Grant crew member Thomas Ayrton (George Sanders) answers the call. Ayrton loads his supplies and the crew takes off for New Zealand. The new guide double crosses the trusting travelers and turns out to be a notorious gun runner. He leaves them at the mercy of Maori tribesmen before meeting up with Bill Gaye (Wilfrid Brambell). Although nearly insane after two years of being marooned, the Bible spouting zealot leads them to safety from the hands of the headhunters. The group escapes to continue the search for Captain Grant, now suspected of being the victim of foul play at the hands of the gentleman gunrunner and former trusted crew member Ayrton. This colorful Walt Disney yarn is taken from the Jules Verne novel "Captain Grant's Children." more

G, 1 hr. 38 min.

Battle of the Bulge

67% 68%

Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw,

Synopsis: In December of 1944, the Allied high command is convinced that German forces in Belgium are in a low state of readiness, and perhaps even about to withdraw. Only one officer on the front lines, intelligence specialist Lt. Col. Kiley (Henry Fonda), believes otherwise -- that the Germans are actually planning an attack. His opinion is rejected by his immediate superior (Dana Andrews) and his commanding general (Robert Ryan). Kiley spots several suspicious signs of German activity behind enemy lines on a reconnaissance flight, and he is at the front looking for evidence when the German counter-offensive starts. Taking advantage of Allied unpreparedness and a weather front that grounds all aircraft, their heavy tank units, supported by infantry, roll over the American forces, assaulting the lines at five different points in an attempt to ultimately divide the Allied forces in the west. The German top tank officer, Colonel Hessler (Robert Shaw), has planned his operation perfectly, but he is in a race against time, to take as much territory as possible before the weather front moves out and American aircraft can fly again, and to capture the American fuel supplies so that the offensive can continue right to the port of Antwerp. He has the total dedication of his men, but engenders doubts from his aide, Conrad (Hans-Christian Blech), who is weary of the fighting and wonders what it is all for. Meanwhile, Kiley is trying to uncover the weak spot in the German offensive, and he crosses paths with several other key players in this drama: Charles Bronson as a combat officer charged with the defense of the collapsing American position, James MacArthur as a neophyte lieutenant who becomes a leader, and Telly Savalas as a conniving sergeant in command of a tank who unexpectedly finds a nobler, less mercenary side of himself. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.

Billy Rose's Jumbo

58%

Doris Day, Stephen Boyd,

Synopsis: Inasmuch as the spectacular Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart Broadway musical Jumbo was written in 1935, this 1962 film version can't help but seem a little quaint. Still, the film features the original production's star Jimmy Durante, energetically recreating his stage role as circus owner Pop Wonder; it is Durante's bravura performance that saves the film from dullness. Threatened with foreclosure, Pop Wonder and his pretty daughter Kitty (Doris Day) put their fates in the hands of go-getter Sam Rawlins (Stephen Boyd). What they don't know is that Sam is the son of Pop's biggest rival (Dean Jagger), and he's been sent to undermine the Wonder Circus. It goes without saying that Sam turns the tables on his dad, thereby saving the day and winning Kitty's hand. Martha Raye shows up as Lulu, a fortune teller who can't figure out what's going to happen next (funny, we can). And of course there's Jumbo the elephant, who figures into the film's funniest scene (as well as one of Jimmy Durante's most celebrated punchlines). Old MGM musical hands Charles Walters and Busby Berkeley share directing chores, but somehow the film hasn't the panache of their earlier work. Happily, most of the Rodgers-Hart songs are retained, including "My Romance" and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World"-not to mention a few Rodgers-Hart tunes borrowed from other show, e.g. "This Can't Be Love". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi more

G, 2 hr. 4 min.

The Four Feathers

100% 87%

John Clements, Ralph Richardson,

Synopsis: This was the first sound production of A.E.W. Mason's classic adventure novel, which was brought to the screen three times in the silent era. Harry Faversham (John Clements) is the son of a military man who expects his son to follow in his footsteps on the fields of battle. Gen. Burroughs (C. Aubrey Smith), the father of Faversham's sweetheart, Ethne (June Duprez), was also a hero in the Crimean War, and he often regales Harry with tales of his exploits under fire. However, Harry is not so sure he believes in the family's tradition of military service and resigns his commission in 1898, shortly before his company is scheduled to head into the Sudan. Three of Faversham's comrades in arms, Capt. John Durrance (Ralph Richardson), Lt. Peter Burroughs (Donald Gray), and Lt. Arthur Willoughby (Jack Allen), each present Harry with a white feather, symbolizing their belief that he is a coward; Ethne shares their belief, and gives him one as well. Disgusted with himself, Faversham disguises himself as a Sangali tribesman and travels to the Sudan so that he might be able to move behind enemy lines and serve the British forces as a scout and reconnaissance agent. When his former regiment is attacked, Faversham is able to lead Burroughs and Willoughby to safety, with the wounded Durrance not realizing that the Arab who saved his life was in fact the man that he accused of cowardice. The Four Feathers was a great critical and commercial success and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi more

Unrated, 1 hr. 39 min.

Captain Blood

100% 89%

Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland,

Synopsis: When British actor Robert Donat dropped out of Warner Bros. Captain Blood, the studio took a chance on its new contractee, Tasmania-born Errol Flynn. Adapted from the novel by Rafael Sabatini, the film is set during the oppressive reign of King James II. Irish physician Peter Blood (Errol Flynn), arrested for treating a wounded anti-crown rebel, is condemned to slavery in Jamaica. Here he earns several privileges after treating the governor (George Hassell) for gout; this does not rest well with Lionel Atwill, the wicked owner of the plantation on which Blood is forced to work. Nor is Atwill pleased with the growing relationship between his niece Arabella (Olivia DeHavilland) and the imprisoned doctor. An attack on Jamaica by Spanish pirates gives Blood and his fellow slaves the opportunity to become buccaneers themselves. After several months of fighting and plunder, Blood's men capture a merchant ship bearing Arabella. Blood fights a duel with a French pirate (Basil Rathbone) over the girl; having "won" her, Blood intends to have his way with her, but his more decent instincts prevail. When King James is overthrown by William of Orange, Blood is given a commission and lauded as a hero as a reward for his bravery against the Spanish galleons. He is appointed governor of Jamaica, wins the hand of the lovely Arabella, and genially forces Atwill to eat crow. This seemingly outsized swashbuckler was actually a very economical production, using stock footage from several silent films. Captain Blood transformed the 26-year-old Errol Flynn into a star; he's a little clumsy in the dialogue department at times, but cuts a dashing figure in the action scenes. The film also represented the cinematic debut of composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, who wasn't completely happy with his hastily written score and asked that his on-screen credit be diminished to "musical director". Long available only in its 99 minute re-issue version, Captain Blood has been restored to its full, glorious 119 minute length. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 59 min.

Hawaii

71% 52%

Julie Andrews, Max von Sydow,

Synopsis: Hawaii hadn't even begun filming when director Fred Zinnemann was replaced by George Roy Hill; similarly, the role intended for Charlton Heston ended up being played by Richard Harris (though Heston would eventually star in the 1970 sequel, The Hawaiians). Based on James A. Michener's best-selling novel, the time frame of which was spread out over several centuries, the film concentrates only on the years 1820 to 1841. Still, Michener's basic point, that the virginal sanctity of the Hawaiian islands was forever shattered by the incursion of the white man, remains intact. Max Von Sydow stars as Abner Hale, an imperious minister who settles in Hawaii with his wife, Jerusha Bromley Hale (Julie Andrews). While Abner expects the islanders to adapt to him rather than the other way around, Jerusha goes out of her way to understand and appreciate her new neighbors. She eventually seeks comfort in the arms of her former lover Rafer Hoxworth (Richard Harris). Despite the lush location footage and such spectacular highlights as pagan ceremonies and an outsized typhoon, the scene most filmgoers remember is Julie Andrews' agonizingly convincing childbirth sequence. All told, it took seven years to translate Hawaii from script to screen -- and almost that long to make back its 15-million-dollar cost. In the early scenes of Hawaii (the 171-minute version, rather than the 151-minute reissue), Bette Midler plays a bit part as a ship passenger. more

Unrated, 2 hr. 41 min.

Good Day for a Hanging

55%

Fred MacMurray, Robert Vaughn,

Synopsis: The Springdale, NE, bank is held up and robbed by a well organized gang. One of the members is Eddie Campbell (Robert Vaughn), a onetime resident of the town and orphan who was brought up in part by Ben Cutler (Fred MacMurray), an ex-lawman-turned-rancher. While pursuing the robbers, the town marshal, Hiram Cain (Emile G. Meyer), is shot dead by Campbell, who in turn is wounded and captured by Cutler. The town council appoints Cutler as temporary marshal, and the prosecution seems like an open-and-shut case -- he begins to see signs of trouble when his own daughter Laurie (Joan Blackman), who was raised with Campbell and was once his sweetheart, refuses to believe that he's guilty of the crime. Ben's fiancée, Ruth (Maggie Hayes), also feels the boy deserves leniency, but the real trouble starts when Campbell's attorney, William Selby (Edmon Ryan), shows up; he first tries to compromise the jury pool by ingratiating himself with the asking the townspeople what we would now call "push" questions, about Campbell's being an orphan and a hard-luck case all of his life, under the guise of building his case. He's also just clever enough at the trial to shake the testimony of the five other witnesses to the shooting, but Cutler's testimony is enough to put the jury into the guilty column. Then Campbell starts working on the sympathy of Laurie and the townspeople who've been persuaded by his lawyer -- it's also been a long time since there's been a capital case like this in the state, and Cutler discovers that the townspeople and even the law may not be as ready to execute a killer as common sense says they should be. Cutler's and Ruth's romance is jeopardized, and he is pushed to the point of resigning when matters come to an explosive head. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 26 min.

Electra Glide in Blue

67% 77%

Robert Blake, Billy Green Bush,

Synopsis: A police officer who would rather use his brains than his gun is put into a situation where neither can help him in this police drama. John Wintergreen (Robert Blake) is a sawed-off and street-smart Arizona motorcycle cop who dreams of climbing the ladder and becoming a police detective, but his ambitions are scoffed at by his partner, Zipper (Billy "Green" Bush). Wintergreen's superiors tend not to take him seriously due to his short stature, but when he stumbles upon the site of a murder, he digs up enough relevant evidence to insure his advancement to detective status. However, after a few days on the job, Wintergreen begins to realize just how corrupt his superior Poole (Mitchell Ryan) truly is after Poole attempts to frame a local hippie, Bob Zemko (Peter Cetera), for a crime he didn't commit. Adding fuel to the fire is Poole's discovery that he and Wintergreen have been dating the same woman, dancer-turned-barmaid Jolene (Jeannine Riley). Electra Glide in Blue was the first (and to date only) directorial credit for James William Guercio. Successful in the music industry as a manager and producer, Guercio was best known for his association with the top-selling jazz-rock group Chicago; several members of the band appear in the movie, as does a young Nick Nolte in a bit part. On a note of sad irony, Terry Kath, the longtime Chicago vocalist who died in 1978 from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, plays a gun-wielding killer in this film. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi more

PG, 1 hr. 46 min.

King of the Cowboys

17%

Roy Rogers, Smiley Burnette,

Synopsis: The budget for this fine Roy Rogers western was doubled and the title changed from "Starlight on the Trail" to the more descriptive King of the Cowboys mainly due to Rogers' great reception on a personal appearance tour in the fall of 1942. Republic had lost Gene Autry to the war effort and this film, more than any other, brought the heretofore also-ran singing cowboy to the forefront, where he remained through the early 1950s. Following the example of Autry, Roy played himself, a rodeo star assigned by the governor (Russell Hicks to investigate a series of warehouse bombings. With sidekick Frog Millhouse (Smiley Burnette) in tow, Roy infiltrates the Merry Makers, a touring tent show whose phony mind reader, Maurice (Gerald Mohr), is the chief operative for a sabotage ring run by the governor's secretary, Kraly (Lloyd Corrigan). But Maurice catches Roy stealing his book of codes and is about to shoot him in cold blood when tent show owner Dave Mason (James Bush) interferes. Maurice then eliminates Mason and frames Roy for the killing but despite this setback, Roy manages to stop the saboteurs before they can blow up a supply train needed in the war effort. An "everything but the kitchen sink" action thriller, King of the Cowboys came complete with seven songs performer by Rogers, Burnette and the Sons of the Pioneers, including "Ride, Ranger, Ride", "Roll Along Prairie Moon" and Johnny Mercer's "I'm an Old Cowhand". The film was restored to its full theatrical length by the Roan Group in the late 1990s and re-released on a DVD that also features the original theatrical trailer and alternate scenes from a separate version released only to the military. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 7 min.

The Sea Wolf

83%

Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino,

Synopsis: The fifth film version of Jack London's The Sea Wolf stars Edward G. Robinson as "premature fascist" Wolf Larsen. The captain of the scavenger ship Ghost , Larsen is a heartless tyrant who can tolerate no sign of weakness in anyone. "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven" is Larsen's philosophy (borrowed from the character of Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost), and accordingly he reigns over his hellish vessel in true satanic fashion. Idealistic writer Humphrey Van Weyden (Alexander Knox) and fugitive from justice Ruth Webster (Ida Lupino) are picked up by the Ghost when their ferryboat capsizes. Realizing that their chances of getting off the boat alive are nil, Van Weyden and Ruth conspire with embittered cabin boy Leach (John Garfield) to escape. They drift in a small open boat for days, only to return to the Ghost , which has apparently been scuttled by the mutinous crew. Larsen has gone blind, but refuses to allow his crew to learn this fact, forcing Van Weyden at gunpoint to perpetuate the illusion that Larsen can still see. Ultimately, the Ghost sinks beneath the waves, carrying Larsen and Van Weyden to their doom ("This is the end of Superman!" cries Van Weyden as the ocean envelops him); Ruth and Leach manage to save themselves, rowing toward the safety of a nearby island -- and hopefully escaping to a new life. The 1941 Sea Wolf would not be the last cinematic adaptation of London's novel; multiple versions have since been produced for both film and television. more

PG-13, 1 hr. 30 min.

Bitter Victory

80% 65%

Richard Burton, Curd Jürgens,

Synopsis: In Nicholas Ray's WWII drama, two British officers, Captain Leith (Richard Burton) and Major Brand (German character actor Curd Jürgens, who would later play Bond foe Karl Stromberg in The Spy Who Loved Me), a South African, are being considered to lead a daring raid to steal crucial documents from a Nazi stronghold in Libya. The two don't seem particularly fond of each other. Brand's wife, Jane (Ruth Roman of Strangers on a Train), arrives on the base. There's an odd awkwardness when Brand introduces her to Leith at the officers' club. It turns out the two already know each other, intimately. They were romantically involved long ago, until Leith broke it off without warning. Jane later met Brand. Leith and Jane keep their relationship a secret from Brand, but he realizes something's up when he goes out for a bit and comes back to find them dancing together. He later gets angry when his wife slips up and refers to Leith as "Jimmy." Brand and Leith are chosen to lead the mission together. Jane says goodbye to Leith, and Wilkins (Nigel Green of The Ipcress File) and some other soldiers see them together. The raid goes fairly smoothly, until Brand can't bring himself to kill a German sentry, and Leith feels compelled to step in and do it for him. Brand's resentment of Leith grows. The team steals the documents and heads out across the desert to make their escape. They're attacked by a German patrol, and after the melee, Brand arouses suspicious when he orders Leith to stay with three badly wounded soldiers while the rest of the group leaves for the rendezvous point. Bitter Victory is based on the novel by René Hardy. Jean-Luc Godard famously said of the film in his review, "Nicholas Ray is cinema." more

Unrated, 1 hr. 43 min.

Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa

68%

Dreadie Jeff, Mama Phyllis,

Synopsis: In the arid waste of the New Mexico desert, 25 miles from the nearest down and deep into a territory no one is likely to find by accident, there is a makeshift community populated by societal dropouts who for a variety of reasons have chosen to live outside the influence of mainstream America. The folks who live on this New Mexico mesa include self-reliant retirees, embittered war veterans, gun enthusiasts, drug addicts, and dozens of others who would be described as rugged individualists by some or kooks by others. Filmmakers Jeremy Stulberg and Randy Stulberg were granted rare access to a community that has willfully cut itself off from the world, and Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa is a documentary about the people who have chosen to live in the middle of nowhere. The residents of the mesa prefer not to involve the police in their affairs -- not surprising for people who are often heavily armed and destroy old cars for fun -- and they live by a few simple rules, most important being "Don't steal from your neighbor" and "Don't shoot your neighbor." However, some new arrivals on the mesa begin testing the patience of their neighbors as a handful of anarchist teenage runaways foolishly steal food from others when their own pantry runs dry. Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa was screened in competition at the 2007 Silverdocs Film Festival, a festival for documentary cinema sponsored in part by the American Film Institute. more

Unrated, 1 hr. 3 min.

Seksmisja (Sexmission)

91%

Olgierd Lukaszewicz, Jerzy Stuhr,

Synopsis: Co-writer and director Juliusz Machulski has come up with a hybrid sex sci fi comedy that defies categorization -- a humorous, male-fantasy that is set after a mythical World War III, in a surviving underground world of women only. Before the terrible onslaught of the final war, two scientists were frozen in a state of suspended animation with the intention of thawing them out in three years. When they are released from their ice-bound sleep, 50 years have passed instead and they find themselves the only two males in a female society that has thus far reproduced only in the test tube. The women cater to the men's every wish, and one of the scientists is definitely a happy camper, while the other firmly believes that a dedication to science negates sexual indulgences, but then, he is also willing to test his theory. When the charming Lamia (Bozena Stryjkowna) is converted from an heroic to a submissive state by virtue of her first kiss, the two men realize they can now adequately defend themselves against the more militant females. Their fate still hangs in the balance because the Council of Women may decide to neuter them after all. As a possible escape hatch, the men discover a way up to the surface of the earth, and they manage the journey with Lamia (now permanently converted) while another woman follows them out, trying to stop their exit. Once they are all on the surface, they experience several wonderful surprises -- and it looks like the future of humanity is assured a second chance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi more

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.

Ivanhoe

79% 65%

Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor,

Synopsis: Produced by MGM's British facilities, the Technicolor Ivanhoe starred Robert Taylor in the title role. Returning to England from the Third Crusades, Ivanhoe is given a cool but cordial reception by his estranged father Cedric (Finlay Currie), a Saxon who despises the Norman king Richard the Lionhearted. Cedric introduces Ivanhoe's fellow knights De Bois-Guilbert (George Sanders) and Sir Hugh de Bracy (Robert Douglas) to Cedric's lovely ward Rowena (Joan Fontaine), who was in love with Ivanhoe until he cast his lot with Richard. Leaving his father's castle, Ivanhoe rescues Isaac (Felix Aylmer), a wealthy Jew, from a band of anti-Semitic Normans. In gratitude, Isaac's beautiful daughter Rebecca (Elizabeth Taylor) finances Ivanhoe's entry into an upcoming tournament; he'd been denied backing by his father because he'd planned to use the prize money to ransom the captured King Richard. At the tournament, the disguised Ivanhoe vanquishes all comers, dedicating his victory to Rebecca, which causes a gust of bigoted gossip from the crowd. Behind the scenes, Richard's wicked brother Prince John (Guy Rolfe) plots to discredit Ivanhoe so that the ransom can never be paid. Joining John in this conspiracy is De Bois-Guilbert, who covets Rebecca, and Sir Hugh, who wants to make Rowena his own. After several thrilling adventures and villainous double-crosses, Rebecca is kidnapped and tried as a witch, the better to bring Ivanhoe out in the open and dispose of him once and for all. But the deux-ex-machina appearance by King Richard (Norman Wooland) and the assistance of loyal "outlaw" Robin Hood (Harold Warrender) brings the bad guys to heel and clears the path for a happy ending. Lensed on an epic scale, this adaptation of the Sir Walter Scott classic remains one of MGM's most solid swashbucklers. The property was remade for television in 1982, with Anthony Andrews in the title role. more

G, 1 hr. 36 min.

King Solomon's Mines

92% 60%

Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr,

Synopsis: MGM's expensive remake of the 1937 British adventure film King Solomon's Mines stars Stewart Granger as fearless-explorer Alan Quartermaine, and Deborah Kerr as the spunky Irish lass who hires him on to locate her husband. Kerr's spouse has disappeared somewhere in Africa while attempting to unearth the long-lost diamond mines of King Solomon. Quartermaine wants no part of so risky an undertaking until Kerr waves 5000 pounds of sterling under his nose. Coming upon a Watusi tribe, the explorers discover that their taciturn native bearer (Siriaque) is actually a deposed Watusi king, who intends to wrest the throne back from his usurpers. Quartermaine uses his wits to quell the natives and keep his party from being killed on the spot. The group finally reaches King Solomon's Mines, where rests the bones of Kerr's late husband. The ending of this version of King Solomon's Mines doesn't pack the same ironic punch as the climax of the 1937 version, but this MGMization is more concerned with the blossoming romance between the leading man and leading lady than with full fidelity to the H. Rider Haggard novel on which it is based. King Solomon's Mines was filmed on location in Africa, which proved an excellent decision in the long run: for several years afterward, MGM adventure films like Watusi (1959) and Trader Horn (1973) were able to economically lift huge chunks of Technicolor stock footage from King Solomon's Mines. The property would be remade once more in 1985, this time as an Indiana Jones rip-off starring Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone. more

G, 1 hr. 42 min.

Darkman III: Die Darkman Die

33% 21%

Arnold Vosloo, Jeff Fahey,

Synopsis: Dr. Westlake/Darkman (Arnold Vosloo) is up to his old tricks, stealing from the bad and keeping for himself while still trying to perfect his synthetic skin which only lasts 99 minutes in the light. After stealing from industrialist and mobster/drug dealer Peter Rooker (Jeff Fahey), Westlake is approached by Dr. Bridget Thorne (Darlanne Fluegel) who is engaged to perform an operation to relieve his pain, but instead she implants in his brain a special device that enables his enemies to control him by inducing unbearable pain. With the help of double-crossing Dr. Thorne, Rooker wants to create a new drug based on Darkman's research. But Darkman strikes back by infiltrating Rooker's gang and his life. Darkman even starts to feel drawn to Rooker's wife Angela (Roxann Biggs-Dawson) and her daughter, who are neglected by the real Rooker. But in disguise, Darkman is able to cling to a normal life, posing as a family man. Even though this sequel was filmed before Darkman II: The Return of Durant, it was ultimately decided that it should be bumped back to part three. This direct-to-video sequel is however, in many ways, superior to the first sequel. Fahey makes an excellent villain combining the best of what made Larry Drake and Colin Friels so enjoyable in the original. Vosloo still can't capture the essence and power of Liam Neeson's character portrayal, but he does a good enough job. Fans of the saga will go feverish over this sequel and others with find it fun as well. more

R, 1 hr. 27 min.

Gunga Din

92% 75%

Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen,

Synopsis: Though Rudyard Kipling's poem Gunga Din makes a swell recital piece, it cannot be said to have much of a plot. It's simply a crude cockney soldier's tribute to a native Indian water boy who remains at his job even after being mortally wounded. Hardly the sort of material upon which to build 118 minutes' worth of screen time-at least, it wasn't until RKO producer Pandro S. Berman decided to convert Gunga Din into an A-budgeted feature film. Now it became the tale of three eternally brawling British sergeants stationed in colonial India: Cutter (Cary Grant), McChesney (Victor McLaglen) and Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). Ballantine intends to break up the threesome by marrying lovely Emmy Stebbins (Joan Fontaine), while Cutter and McChesney begin hatching diabolical schemes to keep Ballantine in the army (if this plot element sounds a lot like something from the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play The Front Page, bear in mind that Hecht and McArthur shared writing credit on Gunga Din with Joel Sayre and Fred Guiol; also contributing to the screenplay, uncredited, was William Faulkner). All three sergeants are kept occupied with a native revolt fomented by the Thuggees, a fanatical religious cult headed by a Napoleonic Guru (Eduardo Ciannelli). Unexpectedly coming to the rescue of our three heroes-not to mention every white man, woman and child in the region-is humble water carrier Gunga Din (Sam Jaffe), who aspires to become the regimental trumpeter. Originally slated to be directed by Howard Hawks, Gunga Din was taken out of Hawks' hands when the director proved to be too slow during the filming of Bringing Up Baby. His replacement was George Stevens, who proved to be slower and more exacting than Hawks had ever been! more

PG, 1 hr. 57 min.

The Gatekeeper

52% 14%

John Carlos Frey, Michelle Agnew,

Synopsis: Adam Fields (John Carlos Frey, who also wrote, directed, and produced the film) is a law enforcement agent patrolling the Mexican border outside San Diego. He's harboring two dangerous secrets. His bosses don't know that he belongs to a racist, right wing vigilante group called National Patrol, that harasses and assaults illegals as they try to cross the border. His confederates in the National Patrol don't know that his own mother is Mexican. Adam, who easily passes for Caucasian, doesn't tell anyone about his mother, a former prostitute. Frustrated with the border patrol's efforts to curtail border crossings, Adam and the shock jock leader of National Patrol, Jack Green (J. Patrick McCormack), come up with a scheme to embarrass the border patrol into taking their concerns more seriously. Adam will go undercover as a Mexican and cross the border into the states to show how easy it is, while capturing everything on a hidden video camera. Adam pays to be brought over, but once in the U.S., the scheme goes horribly awry, and Adam winds up stuck with a hapless group of illegals, forced to work for ruthless criminals at a crystal meth lab. Unable to escape, he gets a firsthand look at the hardships the illegal immigrants endure. Frey tried to sell his script for The Gatekeeper to a Hollywood studio, but, unwilling to compromise his vision, eventually decided to finance the film himself. The Gatekeeper was shown at the 2002 Urbanworld Film Festival and at the 2002 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where it won the Phoenix Award. more

R, 1 hr. 43 min.

My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure

30%

Alexandra Staden, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau,

Synopsis: Peter O'Donnell's novels and comic strip was previously brought to film by actress Monica Vitti and director Joseph Losey in an eponymous 1966 spy spoof. Quentin Tarantino had been interested in bringing the character to the screen for a series of films, but the idea languished. Reportedly, Miramax rushed My Name Is Modesty into production because their option on the material was on the verge of expiring. While there were rumors that Luc Besson was going to direct, with Natasha Henstridge starring, that version never came to fruition. The film was released straight-to-video with Tarantino's imprimatur. Relative newcomer Alexandra Staden plays Modesty, and the film serves as a prequel, an introduction to the character of O'Donnell's work. It opens in the Balkans where some soldiers happen upon a resourceful little girl, a wild child. The film then flashes forward to Modesty as a young adult running a casino for the shady businessman, Louche (Valentin Teodosiu). When ruthless bandits attack the casino and the staff is taken hostage, Modesty secretly signals her partner, Garcia (Raymond Cruz), that there's trouble, then buys time by engaging the bandit leader, Myklos (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau of the original Nightwatch), in a battle of wits. She uses the roulette wheel to barter the lives of the hostages for bits and pieces of her life story. And so the film flashes back to her orphaned past, showing how she was taken in by Lob (Fred Pearson), a wily older gentleman, who taught her to read and write several languages and how to thrive in a dangerous world. more

R, 1 hr. 17 min.

Graveyard of Honor (Jingi no hakaba) (Death of Honor)

88%

Tetsuya Watari, Tatsuo Umemiya

Synopsis: Vengeance Is Mine meets La Strada in Japanese gangland auteur Kinji Fukasaku's real-life yakuza drama about a sociopathic loser who always seems to make the wrong decision. Opening in the blackmarkets of Shinjuku just after the war, Ishikawa (played by matinee icon Tetsuya Watari) works as muscleman for the Kawada crime family. After a raid on a Chinese gang's gambling parlor turns into street warfare, Ishikawa finds himself taking refuge in the boarding room of frightened waif and war orphan Chieko (Yumi Takigawa). After a brief departure, he returns, stinking drunk, to collect his belongings and eventually he rapes her. Meanwhile, Ishikawa almost sparks a gang war after beating up a prostitute of a rival gang. Though the Kawada clan's connection with the American occupation forces eventually forestalls any bloodshed, Ishikawa's godfather (Hana Hajime) balls him out and humiliates him. In retaliation, Ishikawa jumps his boss and stabs him an inch short of his life -- a cardinal sin in the crime world. Ishikawa again takes refuge with Chieko, who in spite of his previous brutishness takes pity on the battered and bleeding gangster and nurses him to health. After a brief stint in jail, Ishikawa learns that he is spared execution only through the efforts of his old friend and crime boss Kozaburo Imai (Tatsuo Umemiya); he is instead banished from the Tokyo yakuza world for ten years. Imai arranges for him to lay low in Osaka, where he lives in a flophouse, spending his time whoring, developing tuberculosis, and shooting up dope. He soon gets bored of Osaka, and ventures back to Tokyo with his witless junky sidekick Ozaki (Kunie Tanaka). After another stint in jail, he marries Chieko, who has by this point developed full-fledged tuberculosis. This film was ranked one of the best Japanese films of 1975 by the prestigious film journal Kinema Jumpo. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi more

Unrated, 1 hr. 33 min.

Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier

81%

Fess Parker, Buddy Ebsen,

Synopsis: Cashing in on the surprise success of his 1954 Davy Crockett TV miniseries (first presented on the weekly anthology Disneyland ), Walt Disney assembled the three hour-long "Crockett" episodes into a 93 minute theatrical feature. While the re-editing process has created a few noticeable continuity gaps, the results are by and large satisfying: certainly audiences in 1955 were satisfied, if box office returns are any indication (and, of course, they are). Fess Parker plays Davy Crockett, Tennessee-born frontiersman, while Buddy Ebsen (Disney's original choice for Crockett) co-stars as Davy's sidekick George Russell. The film is divided into three long episodes, each separated by a title card. Part one shows Crockett the Indian fighter (politically correct? Of course not!); part two finds Davy winning a seat in the Nashville legislature, where his heroism is rather cynically exploited by presidential candidate Andrew Jackson (Basil Ruysdael); and part three concludes at the Alamo, with a discreet cutaway just before Davy meets his doom at the hands of Mexican general Santa Anna. Also appearing in this jerry-built film are Hans Conried as Thimblerig and Helene Stanley as Davy's wife Polly. And who could forget "The Ballad of Davy Crockett"--not to mention those neato coonskin caps? Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier was followed in 1956 by a "prequel" (likewise cobbled together from three Disneyland episodes), Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. more

PG, 1 hr. 33 min.

Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes

64% 60%

Christopher Lambert, Ralph Richardson,

Synopsis: Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes is a reverent retelling of the Edgar Rice Burroughs original, with a 1980s-sensibilities slant. Shipwrecked on the coast of Africa, Lord Jack Clayton (Paul Geoffrey) and his pregnant wife Lady Alice (Cheryl Campbell) attempt to survive in the hostile environment, but both die shortly after the birth of their son John. Abandoned in the wilderness, the orphaned John is adopted by a family of rather highly evolved apes, and raised as one of their own. Years later, John-now known as Tarzan, and now played by Christopher Lambert-comes across a party of white hunters. Rescuing one of the intruders, Belgian Captain Phillipe D'Arnot (Ian Holm) from a horrible death , Tarzan is taught to speak English by the grateful D'Arnot. Coming across the remains and possessions of Tarzan's parents, D'Arnot discovers that the Lord of the Jungle is actually the Earl of Greystoke. Brought back to England, Tarzan is introduced to society, where his crude, apelike manners offend everyone--except the likeable (and painfully senile) 6th Lord of Greystoke (Ralph Richardson, in his final film role) and Greystoke's American ward, Jane Porter (Andie McDowell, whose Southern-fried voice is dubbed by Glenn Close). Disturbed at the notion of Tarzan's inheriting Greystoke manner, his more greedy relatives begin plotting against him. But it is Tarzan himself who decides that he cannot adapt himself to England-especially after a painful reunion with his ape foster father, imprisoned in a science-lab cage. more

PG, 2 hr. 10 min.

The Gods Must Be Crazy

95% 84%

Marius Weyers, Sandra Prinsloo,

Synopsis: Kalahari bushman Xi (played by genuine bushman N!xau) is as surprised as the rest of his tibe when a Coke bottle, thrown from a passing plane, lands in the middle of their village. This "gift from the gods" proves to be a mixed blessing when the tribesmen fight over it and eventually use it for a weapon. To keep peace in the village, Xi is assigned to take the bottle to "the end of the earth" (actually a lush valley) and throw it back to the gods. Meanwhile, back in urbanized South Africa, Kate Thompson (Sandra Prinsloo) leaves her office job in the city to take a job teaching Kalahari children; once in the wilderness, she finds herself constantly bumping into clumsy microbiologist Andrew Steyn (Marius Weyers). And meanwhile, maniacal Sam Boga (Louw Verwey) is leading a military coup against the government. How do all these various and wildly divergent characters fit together? You'll have to see The Gods Must be Crazy yourself--if you haven't seen it already. This Botswanian comedy/melodrama was directed by Jamie Uys, who had helmed dozens of films before Gods and would make many more afterwards. Originally slated for limited domestic distribution in 1982, Gods Must Be Crazy was picked up for American consumption by 20th Century-Fox in 1984. Within a few weeks, "word of mouth" transformed Gods into the biggest foreign boxoffice hit ever released in the U.S. The 1989 sequel didn't do quite as well, indicating that perhaps the bloom was off the rose for N!xau and his confreres. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi more

PG, 1 hr. 49 min.

Map of the Human Heart

80% 81%

Jason Scott Lee, Anne Parillaud,

Synopsis: A white, Inuit boy named Avik is the focus of New Zealand director Vincent Ward's meditation on race and romance. In the opening moments of the movie, set in 1931 in the Arctic-Canadian settlement Nunataaq, Avik (portrayed initially by Robert Joamie) lives under the watchful eye of his grandmother (Jayko Pitseolak). While tagging along after British cartographer Walter Russell (Patrick Bergin), Avik falls prey to the "white man's disease,"--tuberculosis; to assuage his own guilt, Russell takes the boy to a Montreal clinic to recover. There, Avik meets Albertine, a mixed-blood Indian girl, and the two fall in love, but their relationship is quickly broken up by the Mother Superior who is in charge of the clinic. Years later, Avik again meets Russell, who this time is on a mission to recover the German U-boat lying wrecked off the coast of Nunataaq. Avik asks for Russell's help in learning the whereabouts of Albertine, and he gives the cartographer a chest X-ray of the girl which he has carried with him since their separation. More time elapses, and Avik (now played by Jason Scott Lee) has become a British bombardier fighting in World War II. He is sought out by Albertine (Anne Parillaud), who has become Russell's mistress. Still, she begins an affair with Avik; Russell soon finds out, and as revenge sends Avik and his crew on a suicide mission of which Avik is the lone survivor. Despondent over his war experiences, Avik flees to Canada, where he becomes an alcoholic; decades later, he is sought out by Rainee (Clotilde Courau), the daughter born from his affair with Albertine. On his way to the girl's wedding, Avik is killed in an accident; his body washes up on the beach at Nunataaq, a wedding gift still clutched in his arms. more

R, 1 hr. 49 min.

Born to Defense

55%

Jet Li, Erkang Zhao,

Synopsis: Produced in Mainland China by Sil-Metropole, this action picture marked the first directorial work by international martial arts icon Jet Li. He also stars in the film as a young kung-fu expert who fights back against the heartless American soldiers routinely bullying the Chinese populace in the days after World War II (needless to say, the film's viewpoint is slanted in an extremely anti-Western direction bordering on agitprop). First beating one loud-mouthed sailor in a kickboxing contest, the valiant Li gives his prize money to the poor and becomes a rickshaw driver. The Americans destroy his rickshaw and trick Li into allowing himself to become a sparring partner for their fighting practice, a setup engineered with the aim of repeatedly beating the cocky Chinaman to a bloody pulp. The climax of the setup occurs in a driving torrential rain, as he is pitted against the huge Navy captain, and their battle results in a large-scale melee as Li improbably defeats his towering foe. To punish his impudence, the Americans then murder two of Li's friends and frame him for the slayings, setting up the hero's inevitable jailbreak and retaliatory triumph. The film's structure is aimed at portraying all the Americans as vicious sadists, so Li spends a majority of the 92-minute running time being savagely beaten, only to repeatedly come back for more and emerge victorious. Zhao Erkang co-stars with Song Jia and the hulking Kurt Roland Pettersson, whom one might suspect would get the better of Li in a real fight. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi more

R, 1 hr. 31 min.

4.4.3Status:Active